smug

• POS: Adjective

CIDE DICTIONARY

smug, a. [Of. Scand. or Low German origin; cf. LG. smuck, G. schmuck, Dan. smuk, OSw. smuck, smöck, and E. smock, smuggle; cf. G. schmuck ornament. See Smock.].

 Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.  [1913 Webster]
"They be so smug and smooth."  [1913 Webster]
"The smug and scanty draperies of his style."  [1913 Webster]
"A young, smug, handsome holiness has no fellow."  [1913 Webster]

smug, v. t. 

 To make smug, or spruce.  [1913 Webster]
"Thus said, he smugged his beard, and stroked up fair."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

smug, adj. (smugger, smuggest) self-satisfied; complacent.

Derivative

smugly adv. smugness n.

Etymology

16th c., orig. 'neat' f. LG smuk pretty

THESAURUS

smug

Quakerish, Victorian, bland, bovine, braw, buttery, censorious, chic, classy, clothes-conscious, complacent, conceited, consequential, cosmopolitan, dapper, dashing, deck out, demure, disarming, doll up, dress up, dressed to advantage, dressed to kill, elegant, exquisite, fair-spoken, fine-spoken, fulsome, genteel, glib, gussy up, hidebound, holier-than-thou, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, ingratiating, jaunty, mid-Victorian, narcissan, narcissine, narcissistic, narcistic, narrow, natty, neat, nifty, nobby, oily, oily-tongued, old-maidish, overconfident, overmodest, overproud, overweening, posh, priggish, prim, primp, prudish, puritanical, recherche, ritzy, sanctimonious, self-admiring, self-approving, self-assuming, self-complacent, self-congratulating, self-congratulatory, self-content, self-contented, self-delighting, self-endeared, self-esteeming, self-gratulating, self-gratulatory, self-important, self-loving, self-respecting, self-satisfied, self-sufficient, sharp, sleek, slick, smart, smarten up, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, snazzy, soapy, soft-spoken, soigne, soignee, sophisticated, spiffy, spruce, spruce up, stiff-necked, straitlaced, stuffy, style-conscious, suave, suave-spoken, swank, swanky, swell, tricksy, trig, trim, unctuous, vain, vainglorious, well-dressed, well-groomed

ROGET THESAURUS

smug

Affectation

N affectation, affectedness, acting a part, pretense boasting, charlatanism, quackery, shallow profundity, pretension, airs, pedantry, purism, precisianism, euphuism, teratology, mannerism, simagree, grimace, conceit, foppery, dandyism, man millinery, coxcombry, puppyism, stiffness, formality, buckram, prudery, demureness, coquetry, mock modesty, minauderie, sentimentalism, mauvais honte, false shame, affector, performer, actor, pedant, pedagogue, doctrinaire, purist, euphuist, mannerist, grimacier, lump of affectation, precieuse ridicule, bas bleu, blue stocking, poetaster, prig, charlatan, petit maitre, flatterer, coquette, prude, puritan, affected, full of affectation, pretentious, pedantic, stilted, stagy, theatrical, big-sounding, ad captandum, canting, insincere, not natural, unnatural, self-conscious, maniere, artificial, overwrought, overdone, overacted, euphuist, stiff, starch, formal, prim, smug, demure, tire a quatre epingles, quakerish, puritanical, prudish, pragmatical, priggish, conceited, coxcomical, foppish, dandified, finical, finikin, mincing, simpering, namby-pamby, sentimental, conceit in weakest bodies strongest works.