SELF-SATISFIED

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does self-satisfied mean? 

• SELF-SATISFIED (adjective)
  The adjective SELF-SATISFIED has 2 senses:

1. marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction

2. contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions

  Familiarity information: SELF-SATISFIED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SELF-SATISFIED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction

Synonyms:

self-satisfied; smug

Context example:

a smug glow of self-congratulation

Similar:

content; contented (satisfied or showing satisfaction with things as they are)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions

Synonyms:

complacent; self-complacent; self-satisfied

Context example:

his self-satisfied dignity

Similar:

content; contented (satisfied or showing satisfaction with things as they are)

 Context examples 

He came back gay and self-satisfied, eager and busy, caring nothing for Miss Woodhouse, and defying Miss Smith.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And you felt self-satisfied with the result of your ardent labours?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Challenger, like a glad father in the presence of his first-born, stood smiling and stroking his beard, in silent, self-satisfied content as he gazed at the creation of his brain.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could see from the old fellow's self-satisfied air and the way in which he looked round for the approval of his cronies that he was "showing off," so I put in a word to keep him going:—Oh, Mr. Swales, you can't be serious.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)