COMPLACENCE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Complacence

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noun

Complacency, Complacence n.

Calm contentment; satisfaction; gratification. "The inward complacence we find in acting reasonably and virtuously." "Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacency, if they discover none of the like in themselves."

The cause of pleasure or joy. "O thou, my sole complacence."

The manifestation of contentment or satisfaction; good nature; kindness; civility; affability. "Complacency, and truth, and manly sweetness, Dwell ever on his tongue, and smooth his thoughts." "With mean complacence ne'er betray your trust."

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Etymology of 'Complacence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Complacence" Quotes from Famous Books

... adapted, as it were, to the situation. You may know an R. A. on the private view-day by the broad, expanding jollity of his visage, if he be a man of that stamp, or by a certain quiet, self-satisfied smile of self-complacence, if he be a ...

— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 444 - Volume 18, New Series, July 3, 1852 • Various

... own distaste for soft living and his longings after a hermit's cell was an edifying spectacle. So was the evident pride which he took in his domain, the complacence with which he pointed out the shady, well-stocked garden, and the delight with which he produced and set upon the table a huge pasty and ...

— To Have and To Hold • Mary Johnston

... time?" came a harsh voice and a laugh, and he straightened up and murmured an apology. He felt very much embarrassed and disturbed. His mellow complacence had fled precipitately. In his ears sounded the rattle of personalities. It was as harsh and as constant and as senseless as machine-gun fire. At least he ...

— Stubble • George Looms

... as dangerous. By that I mean the clinging to superstitions of the past, and the pedantic desire to enclose art within narrow limits, which still flourish among critics. Who has not met these censors of music? They will tell you with solid complacence how far music may go, and where it must stop, and what it may express and what it must not. They are not always musicians themselves. But what of that? Do they not lean on the example of the past? The past! a handful of works that they themselves hardly understand. Meanwhile, music, by its ...

— Musicians of To-Day • Romain Rolland

... made, as it were, in wax. When Nature first framed him, she took a secret complacence in her work. He is even her masterpiece in irrational things, borrowing somewhat of all things to set him forth. For example, his slick bay coat he took from the chestnut; his neck from the rainbow, which perhaps make him rain so well. His mane belike ...

— Character Writings of the 17th Century • Various

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