complacent?

[wolfatthedoor]

Today while i was writing I used the word complacency. Afterwards, I became unsure of the word and it's meaning in the sentence. I brought up the dictionary tool which told me this:

com·pla·cent [kəm pláyss’nt]
adj
1. satisfied: self-satisfied, usually in an unreflective way and without being aware of possible dangers
2. eager to please: eager to please


This seems right, but it feels like it's only part of the definition. I have always thought of complacent as meaning satisfied, but only through redundancy. Okay that didn't sound right. I'm not Webster, unfortunatly.

I guess the way I thought of the word would be in this context:

If someone is in a relationship and it has gotten stale over the years, it seems that people stay together more out of the comfort of being used to that situation, than because they are actually in love.

When describing such a relationship I would say: In many ways he missed those days when their relationship meant something other than complacency.

As if the word meant: satisfied, but only satisfied. If that makes any sense.


Am I wrong? Or has the meaning of the word somehow evolved into what I think of it as? I'm guessing I am wrong, but i kind of liked the word in the sentence, so I hope not.


Sorry for the rant, and as always, thanks for the help.

[DanielScocco]

I think you are right.

Personally I always used this word to express someone that knows that something is wrong and does nothing about it.

For example, a manager that knows that his company is facing problems to get the money from clients but does nothing about it is complacent (or plain stupid :) ).

[wolfatthedoor]

Actually, if that is the case, then it adds even more meaning to my sentence. In other words, the couple have a relationship filled with problems and choose to ignore it. That works even better to be honest. Thanks.

[Maeve]

To me a complacent person is so self-satisfied and unreflective that he doesn't perceive problems. He doesn't ignore them deliberately; he's unaware of their existence.

[DanielScocco]

To me a complacent person is so self-satisfied and unreflective that he doesn't perceive problems. He doesn't ignore them deliberately; he's unaware of their existence.

Hmm good point. I always thought that the person would ignore the problems deliberately, but perhaps your angle is the correct one Maeve.

[Maeve]

I googled the word and came across this description of a CD called The Complacent Americans. The meaning is definitely that of people ignoring problems because they don't think they're really problems:

http://www.conelrad.com/media/atomicmusic/complacent.html