complacently

[ kuhm-pley-suhnt-lee ]

adverb

1. in a pleased or self-satisfied way, often without awareness of some potential danger or defect:

   We are all part of the system that perpetuates these injustices, and we must not stand complacently by.

2. in a pleasant or compliant way:

   The frog in the pot, unaware of the threat, simply sits complacently until he boils.

Other Words From

• non·com·pla·cent·ly adverb
• o·ver·com·pla·cent·ly adverb
• un·com·pla·cent·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of complacently¹

complacent ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

The movie doesn’t split the difference between raunchy sex farce and dual personal growth study so much as complacently fall between rom-com subgenres.

From New York Times

Not merely complacently sure of herself, like Bernhardi, she is, in Stevenson’s unflinching performance, a completely unsympathetic blowhard.

From New York Times

This “colorful comedy of romance and finding yourself,” according to the Guardian, tries “very hard to be liked, while at the same time complacently assuming its likability is beyond question.”

From Washington Post

Pence complacently assured his audience that “the government would oversee” private accounts, but what does that mean?

From Los Angeles Times

In blunt remarks, Lindner said Germany had slipped behind other countries because it was especially vulnerable to Europe's energy crisis and supply chain disruptions, and had complacently believed in its own economic strength.

From Reuters