complacent
self-satisfied and unaware of risk
Roots
Other words with the plac root
- complaisant: eager to please or agree with others
- implacable: unable to be appeased
- placate: to calm someone down
- placatory: intended to soothe, calm, or appease
- placebo: inactive treatment that may still produce a perceived benefit
- placid: calm, peaceful, and undisturbed
- placidity: calmness or peaceful stillness
Complacent is dangerous comfort: so pleased with the situation that you stop checking the risk.
After one strong practice test, Ravi grew complacent and stopped reviewing the words he kept missing.
Complacent comes through Latin complacere, to please greatly. The modern twist is almost comic: the person is pleased, yes, but too pleased. The root has curdled into smug comfort. A complacent student is not calm because everything is safe; they are calm because they stopped looking.