How to use complacent in a sentence

19 example sentences · adjective

Complacent means uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug. Example: “He grew complacent as the years rolled on and the money rolled in.”

Examples of complacent by meaning

adjectiveUncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.

He grew complacent as the years rolled on and the money rolled in.
England will feel confident but not complacent against Ukraine, and the shock exit of France to Switzerland shows no-one can be taken lightly.2021 June 29, Phil McNulty, “England 2-0 Germany”, in BBC Sport

adjectiveUnduly unworried or apathetic with regard to a need or problem.

He tried to paint his audience as complacent, yelling that if they weren't mad as hell then they weren't paying enough attention.

More sentences with complacent

Are we being too complacent in a space that now has one key-person risk?2018 February 25, Shuli Ren, “Xi's the Key-Person Risk for Emerging Markets: China's president may be around for a long time. There are…. From the entry key person risk
For a nation that values its children, folks are awfully complacent about saddling their kids with megadebt.1995 December 27, Debra Saunders, “Clinton, not GOP, deserves public's scorn”, in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. From the entry megadebt
Everyone must destroy even more carefully than his phobias, his “philias,” his complacent acceptance of first intuitions.1987, Gaston Bachelard, Psychoanalysis of Fire, page 6. From the entry philias
It may sometimes appear that Canada is composed of nine complacent, cohesive English-speaking provinces and rambunctious Quebec.1979, “The Art of Government is the Art of Adjustment”, in Canada Today = Canada d’aujourd’hui, volume 10, number 4, Washington, D.C.…. From the entry rambunctious
Bullying tactics such as trolling are used to reinforce power dynamics and keep females quiet and complacent with timeworn traditions.2021 November 8, Hafsa Lodi, “I was trolled by pro-Taliban extremists after writing about Muslim feminism”, in Business Insider, New York…. From the entry troll
"I know it's been a long haul, but can we please not get complacent re: our annual magic gunk explosion?2020 July 24, HarryBlank, “SCP-5243”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 02 Sep 2024. From the entry re
Or perhaps we will sink back into our culture of complacent exceptionalism and await the next plague that will surely arrive.2020 April 9, Richard Horton, “Coronavirus is the greatest global science policy failure in a generation”, in The Guardian, archived from…. From the entry exceptionalism
Like empires, world orders grow old, fissiparous, complacent and grumpy — despite the Champagne, the thrill is gone.2015 January 1, Steven Erlanger, “New Year, Old Problems”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry fissiparous
After sixteen years of relative peace, people are growing complacent.2007, John Flanagan, The Burning Bridge, Corgi Yearling, →ISBN, page 12. From the entry battlemaster
Being complacent about those limitations is quite another.1991, Jacob A. Frenkel, Morris Goldstein, International Financial Policy: Essays in honor of Jacques J Polak, →ISBN, page 8. From the entry making bricks without straw
Indeed, they are already doing so with all the complacent industry of beavers and the beaverly repetition of aims and methods.1963, The Canadian Forum: A Monthly Journal of Literature and Public Affairs. From the entry beaverly
Large and square-headed, fatuously complacent, pot-bellied, spade-handed and dumpy-footed, for all the world presenting the appearance of animated jelly.1904, E. Pritchard, The Physiological Feeding of Infants, page 13. From the entry spade-handed
Hollande was always clear-eyed about Vladimir Putin, setting himself apart from a French political tradition that has often been more complacent about Russia.2023 June 10, Roula Khalaf, “Lunch with the FT: François Hollande”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd.…. From the entry clear-eyed
Democracy is in disrepair, big business alternatingly rents, seeks, or foists cultural rot onto the complacent public, and education is mindnumbingly awash in psychological fads.2001, Mike N. Castle, editor, School Violence: Views of Students & the Community: Congressional Hearings, DIANE Publishing, →ISBN, page 6. From the entry mind-numbingly
For the time being, employers may be benefiting from unusually low turnover rates, but they shouldn't be complacent—a wave of revenge quitting is on the horizon.2024 November 19, Daniel Zhao, “Glassdoor Worklife Trends 2025”, in Glassdoor, archived from the original on 22 Nov 2024. From the entry revenge quitting
With Daley's iron grip and his loyal band of alderpeople, he will continue to ride roughshod over what appears to be a very complacent Chicago populace.2007 August 24, Mike Koskiewicz, “On Taxes and TIF Spending”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry alderperson

Meaning of complacent

adjective Uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.
adjective Unduly unworried or apathetic with regard to a need or problem.

Full definition of complacent

Questions about complacent in a sentence

How do you use complacent in a sentence?: Complacent is used as an adjective. For example: “He grew complacent as the years rolled on and the money rolled in.”
What is a short sentence with complacent?: “Being complacent about those limitations is quite another.”
What does complacent mean?: Complacent means uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.

Adapted from Wiktionary: complacent (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use complacent in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/complacent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.