cocksure

[ kok-shoor, -shur ]

adjective

1. perfectly sure or certain; completely confident in one's own mind:

   She was cocksure that she was able to do the job better than anyone else.

   Synonyms: conceited, arrogant, cocky

2. too certain; overconfident:

   He was so cocksure he would win the election that he didn't even bother to campaign.

3. Obsolete. perfectly secure or safe.

cocksure

/ ˌkɒkˈʃʊə; -ˈʃɔː /

adjective

1. overconfident; arrogant

Derived Forms

• ˌcockˈsurely, adverb
• ˌcockˈsureness, noun

Other Words From

• cocksurely adverb
• cocksureness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cocksure¹

First recorded in 1510–20; cock ¹ + sure

Word History and Origins

Origin of cocksure¹

C16: of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

The potential for damagingly inaccurate outputs is heightened by AI bots’ natural language capabilities, with which they offer even absurdly inaccurate answers with convincingly cocksure elan.

From Los Angeles Times

About three months after he offered that cocksure assurance, the Justice Department filed a second lawsuit alleging that Live Nation had been consistently violating the consent decree.

From Los Angeles Times

They misquoted him to his face, misrepresented his work, and spouted cocksure inanities showing with every word that, scientifically speaking, they have no idea what they’re talking about.

From Los Angeles Times

In January, the cocksure governor told Times reporter Taryn Luna in an interview: “I think it’s going to win overwhelmingly. Period. Full stop.”

From Los Angeles Times

That’s also why the cocksure predictions issuing from Davos year after year are so risibly unreliable, the vision of the future so clouded.

From Los Angeles Times