Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make smug or spruce: often with up.
- Smooth; sleek; neat; trim; spruce; fine: also, affectedly proper; unctuous; especially, affectedly nice in dress; satisfied with one's own appearance; hence, self-satisfied in any respect.
- Affectedly or conceitedly smart.
- noun One who is affectedly proper and nice; a self-satisfied person.
- noun A smith.
- To confiscate summarily, as boys used to confiscate tops, marbles, etc., when the game was played out of season.
- To hush up.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
- transitive verb obsolete To make smug, or spruce.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Irritatingly
pleased with oneself;self-satisfied . - verb obsolete, transitive To make smug, or
spruce .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The same may be said of ‘sconce’, in this sense at least; of ‘nowl’ or ‘noll’, which Wiclif uses; of ‘slops’ for trousers (Marlowe’s _Lucan_); of ‘cocksure’ (Rogers), of ‘smug’, which once meant no more than adorned (“the _smug_ bridegroom”, Shakespeare).
English Past and Present Richard Chenevix Trench 1846
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Every time Mr. Gogan saw me smile at a customer, he seemed so pleased with himself I worried that his face might freeze in an expression of smug exhilaration.
How to Flirt with A Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011
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The kind old world spins on, and the bourgeois masters clip their coupons in smug complacency.
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But smug is smug, and what can I say – I like to call out the smug at times.
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Every time Mr. Gogan saw me smile at a customer, he seemed so pleased with himself I worried that his face might freeze in an expression of smug exhilaration.
How to Flirt with A Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011
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There it will lay, because while smug is annoying, it's not THAT big a deal.
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Every time Mr. Gogan saw me smile at a customer, he seemed so pleased with himself I worried that his face might freeze in an expression of smug exhilaration.
How to Flirt with A Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011
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Every time Mr. Gogan saw me smile at a customer, he seemed so pleased with himself I worried that his face might freeze in an expression of smug exhilaration.
How to Flirt with A Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011
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Every time Mr. Gogan saw me smile at a customer, he seemed so pleased with himself I worried that his face might freeze in an expression of smug exhilaration.
How to Flirt with A Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011
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You are right that we are in a phoney war now though and being to smug is probably not a good idea
Poltical Language ( Ask the Focus Group ) Newmania 2007
uselessness commented on the word smug
The pollution of self-righteous arrogance. As seen on Facebook:
"Do you care about your enviroment????? Everytime you give a hippie credit he releases smug into the atmosphere!"
"If I'm not mistaken you can only release smug by driving a hybrid vehicle."
"and living in san francisco"
"And attending a George Clooney speach"
September 27, 2007
reesetee commented on the word smug
Oh, classic.
September 27, 2007
oroboros commented on the word smug
Gums in reverse.
November 3, 2007
yarb commented on the word smug
A Range Rover stopped outside our door
in a smug Shropshire village;
out steps our local Councillor,
first-class shit.
- Peter Reading, Eclogue, from Tom O' Bedlam's Beauties, 1981
June 28, 2008