different between complacency vs carelessness

English

Alternative forms

• complacence

Etymology

Late Latin complacentia: compare French complaisance.

Noun

complacency (countable and uncountable, plural complacencies)

1. A feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 5:

     ... looking at Mr. George Osborne's pale interesting countenance, and those beautiful black, curling, shining whiskers, which the young gentleman himself regarded with no ordinary complacency, she thought in her little heart that in His Majesty's army, or in the wide world, there never was such a face or such a hero.

   • There was something pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more. When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me.

   • Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacency, if they discover none of the like in themselves.

2. An instance of self-satisfaction.

Related terms

• complacent
• self-complacency

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English *carelesnes, *carlesnesse, from Old English carl?asnes (“freedom from care, security, carelessness”), equivalent to careless +? -ness.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??l?sn?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??l?sn?s/
• Hyphenation: care?less?ness

Noun

carelessness (countable and uncountable, plural carelessnesses)

1. Lack of care.

   This accident was caused by carelessness.

Synonyms

• inattention
• negligence

Antonyms

• carefulness

Related terms

• careless

Translations

Anagrams

• racelessness