smugness
noun
smugness is spelled S-M-U-G-N-E-S-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, smugness means “The state or quality of being smug” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of smugness is smugnesses.
How many letters and syllables are in smugness?
| Letters | 8: S-M-U-G-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,913th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is smugness?
Smugness appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th 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 smugness?
- US
Smugness has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-smugness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of smugness
- smugnesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does smugness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state or quality of being smug.
- 2
The result or product of being smug.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Smugness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense state or quality of being smug:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | indulgence, complaisance |
| German | Selbstgefälligkeit |
| Spanish | petulancia, autosuficiencia, ufanía |
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 smugness come from?
From smug + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).