Synonyms of smug

smug

adjective

ˈsməg 

1

as in arrogant

having too high an opinion of oneself

a winner who was so smug that he lost the goodwill of the crowd

Synonyms & Similar Words

• arrogant
• proud
• egotistical
• vain
• conceited
• self-important
• complacent
• egoistical
• self-satisfied
• domineering
• selfish
• confident
• vainglorious
• pompous
• bigheaded
• egotistic
• important
• prideful
• egoistic
• stuck-up
• self-conceited
• assured
• supercilious
• cocky
• overweening
• boastful
• biggity
• snobbish
• consequential
• biggety
• snooty
• haughty
• bumptious
• snobby
• high-and-mighty
• bombastic
• swaggering
• uppity
• self-opinionated
• braggy
• swellheaded
• cavalier
• blusterous
• blustery
• disdainful
• bragging
• assumptive
• holier-than-thou
• pretentious
• huffy
• overconfident
• pontifical
• braggart
• superior
• chesty
• uppish
• hifalutin
• high-handed
• self-assured
• condescending
• masterful
• self-assertive
• self-confident
• patronizing
• toploftical
• high-hat
• presumptuous
• lordly
• fastuous
• toplofty
• imperious
• presuming
• self-centered
• peremptory
• self-congratulatory
• self-contented
• lofty
• highfalutin
• self-asserting
• self-glorifying
• self-promoting
• self-dramatizing
• self-engrossed
• self-gratulatory
• self-adulatory
• self-applauding
• self-affected

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• humble
• modest
• diffident
• egoless
• timid
• meek
• self-critical
• unassertive
• uncomplacent
• unassuming
• sheepish
• down-to-earth
• unpretentious
• self-doubting
• bashful
• self-reproachful
• shy
• introverted
• shrinking
• self-distrustful
• mousy
• retiring
• self-reproving
• demure
• mousey
• overmodest
• unarrogant

2

as in tidy

being clean and in good order

the suburb's smug lawns and tree-lined streets bespeak a comfortable affluence

Synonyms & Similar Words

• tidy
• neat
• trim
• tidied
• picked up
• prim
• crisp
• uncluttered
• orderly
• antiseptic
• snug
• groomed
• shipshape
• kempt
• well-groomed
• trig
• dapper
• immaculate
• saucy
• sleek
• spiffy
• organized
• natty
• rakish
• spotless
• bandbox
• smart
• taut
• streamlined
• spruce
• systematic
• spick-and-span
• spic-and-span
• straight

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• slovenly
• disheveled
• messy
• unkempt
• untidy
• disorderly
• disordered
• sloppy
• dishevelled
• shabby
• scruffy
• dirty
• filthy
• seedy
• slipshod
• nasty
• sordid
• squalid
• foul
• sloven
• mussy
• mussed
• rumpled
• dowdy
• disorganized
• tumbled
• unsystematic
• frowsy
• frowzy
• tousled

Examples of smug in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s the imperious Cardinal Tremblay (a smug and quivering John Lithgow), who was the last person to see the Holy Father before his death, and seems to be hiding a gospel’s worth of alternate truths under his robes. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 31 Aug. 2024

He is recruited by the FBI (represented by a smug bureaucrat and an inept field agent) to infiltrate and bring down the Brotherhood, a violent white-supremacist biker gang. —Helaine Williams, arkansasonline.com, 10 Aug. 2024

Yes, some people facing hardship can nonetheless be intolerably smug. —Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 1 Mar. 2024

Nevertheless, Republicans can’t get too smug about the Democrat’s disarray. —Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 27 July 2024