smug
Pronunciation Adjective

smug (comparative smugger, superlative smuggest)

  1. Irritatingly pleased with oneself, offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.
    Kate looked extremely smug this morning.
  2. (obsolete) Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
    • 1556, Raphe Robynson, More’s Utopia: The English Translation thereof
      They be so smug and smooth.
    • the smug and scanty draperies of his style
    • (Can we date this quote?), Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “The Pilgrim”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act 1, scene 2:
      A young, smug, handsome holiness has no fellow.
Synonyms Translations Verb

smug (smugs, present participle smugging; past and past participle smugged)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To make smug, or spruce.
    • Thus said, he smugged his beard, and stroked up fair.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To seize; to confiscate.
  3. (obsolete, transitive, slang) To hush up.



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