1600-1700Latin present participle of complacere ‘to please greatly’, from com- ( ➔ COM-) + placere ‘to please’
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
We've been winning, but we're not going to get complacent.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
As long as the presence of doubt is detected anywhere, neither faith nor knowledge can ever be complacent.
But people do it; then things blow up; then people are careful for a while; then people get complacent.
Happy but not complacent - our aim must be 100% Good to Excellent.
He said that we have become complacent about child labour, and that the situation is much worse than it appears.
I would have been insufferably snobbish and complacent.
She can cook for hours and feel almost complacent, she says.
The 4-0 Vikings had one this week to allow Warren Moon to tell all his young teammates not to get complacent.
Collocations
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY►complacent attitude
a complacent attitude towards the problem
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB►too
· While a strong currency has some virtues, officialdom is probably a little too complacent.· My main criticism of the proposals is that the reforms that they suggest are far too complacent and conservative.
NOUN►attitude
· It is claimed that the lack of competition and market discipline induces a complacent attitude in both management and the workforce.
pleased with a situation, especially something you have achieved, so that you stop trying to improve or change things – used to show disapproval: There’s a danger of becoming complacent if you win a few games. a complacent attitude towards the problemcomplacent about We simply cannot afford to be complacent about the future of our car industry.—complacently adverb