Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state or character of being smug; neatness; spruceness;. self-satisfaction; conceited smartness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality or state of being smug.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The state or quality of being
smug . - noun countable The result or product of being
smug .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an excessive feeling of self-satisfaction
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But my motivation was “a good deed for the day” and my partner in smugness on this occasion, was mum whose ex Fleetline.
Welcome ‘Times’ Readers « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009
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Smugness is, as you note, never an attractive trait -- whether or not the smugness is justified, and whether or not the source is entirely flawless.
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I think other than that the smugness is just about equal between the two.
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Kristina Graber, of Three Rivers, Calif., wrote, As a hybrid-vehicle owner, I have come to recognize a certain smugness hybrid ownership brings.
Word Fugitives 2007
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This is what preserves the shentong view from nihilism, and from a certain smugness bred of holding the ultimate philosophical joker up your sleeve.
Hegel on Buddhism 2007
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Such smugness is in fact common among many cultural revolutions.
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Kristina Graber, of Three Rivers, Calif., wrote, As a hybrid-vehicle owner, I have come to recognize a certain smugness hybrid ownership brings.
Word Fugitives 2007
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Mike Arrington: “Google smugness is at an all time high.”
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I almost would avoid a term like ignorance, because it implies a certain smugness on the part of the person using it.
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I almost would avoid a term like ignorance, because it implies a certain smugness on the part of the person using it.
bilby commented on the word smugness
"Looking back at Star Trek, more than four decades after Roddenberry's vision entered our homes, what's remarkable is how much it captured a still extant American optimism and an American cultural smugness. The optimism today has been muted, but the smugness -- not so much. After all, official American 'expeditionary forces' continue to travel the 'final frontiers' of our own planet, if not the galaxy, armed to the teeth with our own versions of phasers and photon torpedoes. At the same time, most of us continue to see ourselves as a peace-loving, Federation-like crew, a force for progress, for international cooperation, and above all for good."
- William Astore, Aboard the Imperial Star Ship Ameriprise, tomdispatch.com, 26 March 2009.
March 27, 2009