smug

Meaning

Adj

1. Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.
2. Showing smugness; showing self-complacency, self-satisfaction.
3. (obsolete) Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To make smug, or spruce.
2. to adopt an offensively self-complacent expression.
3. (obsolete,slang) To seize; to confiscate.
4. (obsolete,slang) To hush up.

Noun

The smuggling trade.

Synonyms

self-satisfied

complacent

conceited

self-complacent

self important

egoistic

hoity toity

holier-than-thou

opinionated

priggish

self complacent

self-conceited

self-important

self-righteous

smarten

snobbish

snooty

steal

stiff

stuck up

stuffy

sure

trim

vain

vainglorious

self-absorbed

overproud

self conceited

self-satisfying

arrest

ladida

bumptious

certain

cocky

confident

Pronounced as (IPA)

/smʌɡ/

Etymology

Possibly from Middle Low German smuk (“lithe, delicate, neat, trim”) although the g of the English word is not easily explained. From the Low German derived also North Frisian smok, Danish smuk and Swedish smukk (now obsolete or dialectal). The ultimate source should be Proto-Germanic *smeuganą.
Compare Middle High German gesmuc (“ornament”) and smücken (“to dress, to adorn”), both ultimately from smiegen (“to press to, insert, wrap, to nestle”), hence German schmiegen, Schmuck and schmücken. The adjective schmuck, however, was borrowed from Low German. See smock for more.