What is another word for smugly?

Pronunciation: [smˈʌɡli] (IPA)

Synonyms for the word "smugly" include complacently, self-righteously, arrogantly, patronizingly, and conceitedly. These words all describe an individual who is self-satisfied in their beliefs, actions, or accomplishments. Smugness is often perceived negatively as it can reflect arrogance and superiority towards others. Complacency suggests contentment with the status quo, while self-righteousness denotes a sense of moral superiority. Arrogance implies an exaggerated sense of self-importance, patronizing behavior towards others, and an inability to accept criticism. Conceitedness suggests excessive confidence in oneself and one's abilities. Overall, smugness is an unattractive quality that can alienate others and damage relationships.

What are the hypernyms for Smugly?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

Usage examples for Smugly

That smugly superior world had betrayed him.
"The Tempering"
Charles Neville Buck
When we read about that, as children, we said smugly: "What a fool Paris was!"
"Superwomen"
Albert Payson Terhune
"Mindy's sewing," Alec said, and added smugly, "a proper pastime for a girl."
"We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run"
James Arthur Kjelgaard

Famous quotes with Smugly

  • Little men with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
    Zig Ziglar
  • As for the Republicans — how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'…) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.
    H. P. Lovecraft
  • I can better understand the inert blindness & defiant ignorance of the reactionaries from having been one of them. I know how smugly ignorant was—wrapped up in the arts, the natural (not social) sciences, the of history & antiquarianism, the academic phases of philosophy, & so on—all the one-sided standard lore to which, according to the traditions of the dying order, a liberal education was limited. God! the things that were —the inside facts of history, the rational interpretation of periodic social crises, the foundations of economics & sociology, the actual state of the world today … & above all, the of applying disinterested reason to problems hitherto approached only with traditional genuflections, flag-waving, & callous shoulder-shrugs! All this comes up with humiliating force through an incident of a few days ago—when young Conover, having established contact with Henneberger, the ex-owner of , obtained from the latter a long epistle which I wrote Edwin Baird on Feby. 3, 1924, in response to a request for biographical & personal data. Little Willis asked permission to publish the text in his combined , & I began looking the thing over to see what it was like—for I had not the least recollection of ever having penned it. Well …. I managed to get through, after about 10 closely typed pages of egotistical reminiscences & showing-off & expressions of opinion about mankind & the universe. I did not faint—but I looked around for a 1924 photograph of myself to burn, spit on, or stick pins in! Holy Hades—was that much of a dub at 33 … only 13 years ago? There was no getting out of it—I really thrown all that haughty, complacent, snobbish, self-centred, intolerant bull, & at a mature age when anybody but a perfect damned fool would have known better! That earlier illness had kept me in seclusion, limited my knowledge of the world, & given me something of the fatuous effusiveness of a belated adolescent when I finally able to get around more in 1920, is hardly much of an excuse. Well—there was nothing to be done … except to rush a note back to Conover & tell him I'd dismember him & run the fragments through a sausage-grinder if he ever thought of printing such a thing! The only consolation lay in the reflection that I matured a bit since '24. It's hard to have done all one's growing up since 33—but that's a damn sight better than not growing up at all.
    H. P. Lovecraft

Word of the Day

multitasker
The word "multitasker" usually refers to someone who can perform different tasks simultaneously. However, there are several antonyms for this word, which describe the opposite type...