complacent
/kəmˈpleɪsənt/adjective
complacent is spelled C-O-M-P-L-A-C-E-N-T: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “complacent vs complaisant” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, complacent means “Uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in complacent?
| Letters | 10: C-O-M-P-L-A-C-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is complacent?
Complacent appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce complacent?
- /kəmˈpleɪsənt/
Complacent has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-complacent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with complacent
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: complaisant (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of complacent
- more complacent comparative
- most complacent superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does complacent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.
He grew complacent as the years rolled on and the money rolled in.
- 2
Unduly 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Complacent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | suffisant |
| German | selbstgefällig, selbstzufrieden |
| Portuguese | complacente |
| Spanish | autocomplaciente, contentadizo, demasiado satisfecho |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does complacent come from?
Borrowed from Latin complacēns (“very pleasing”), present participle of complacēre (“to please at the same time, be very pleasing”), from com- (“together”) + placēre (“to please”); see please and compare complaisant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).