complacency

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin complacentia (“satisfaction, pleasure”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the same source as the earlier complacence, but with the later form of the suffix, -ency.^[2][6][7] The Medieval Latin noun is from Latin complacēns (“very pleasing”), the present participle of complaceō (“to be very pleasing”),^[6][8][5] formed from com-, here perhaps intensive, and placeō (“to please”), the source of please.^[6] Complacence is recorded from the mid-15th century,^[6] 1430 in the OED,^[2] and the adjective complacent from the 1650s.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave the same Latin noun, which he called Low Latin, as the source of both forms.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being pleased with a thing or person; quiet pleasure or satisfaction: 1643, in Milton's The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1640s^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1635–45.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The specific sense of being pleased with oneself, self-satisfaction, is recorded from 1650, in John Bulwer's Anthropometamorphosis,^[2][10] and has become the main meaning.^[7][3] Today the word usually implies that the satisfaction is uncritical or unwarranted, coupled with an unawareness of danger or deficiencies.^[7][11][3] In the mid-17th century it also meant pleasure or delight in general (until 1870), contented consent (until 1709), and a wish to please others, that is complaisance (from 1651).^[2][7] Johnson (1755), under complacence and complacency, listed "pleasure; satisfaction; gratification", "the cause of pleasure; joy" and "civility; complaisance; softness of manners".^[9] Etymonline notes that the sense "disposition to please" now belongs to complaisance,^[6] and Collins calls it obsolete for complacency.^[12] A plural, for instances of self-satisfaction, is recorded from 1829.^[2]

Timeline

• 1643 – tranquil pleasure or satisfaction in a thing or person.^[2]
• 1650 – the state of being pleased with oneself; self-satisfaction.^[2][10][3]
• 1651 – a wish to please others or comply with their wishes; complaisance.^[2]
• 1652 – pleasure, delight (obsolete by 1870); contented acquiescence or consent (obsolete by 1709).^[2]
• 1749 – in the plural, acts of complaisance.^[2]
• 1829 – in the plural, instances of self-satisfaction.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feeling of quiet satisfaction with oneself or one's situation, especially when it goes with an unawareness of danger or shortcomings; smugness: Early success bred complacency in the team.^{[11][10][3][12][7]}
2. An instance of such self-satisfaction.^[11][10][2]
3. A calm sense of well-being and security; pleasure or satisfaction in something.^[3][2]
4. (archaic) A wish to please others; complaisance.^[7][12][2]
5. (obsolete, 1652–1870) Pleasure or delight.^[2][7]
6. (obsolete, 1652–1709) Contented acquiescence or consent.^[2][7]

Word family

• overcomplacency

Related words

• complacent
• complacence
• complaisance
• please

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins