"cocksure" meaning in English

See cocksure in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more cocksure [comparative], most cocksure [superlative]
Etymology: Probably from cock + sure, early 16th c. Etymology templates: {{affix|en|cock|sure|id1=rooster}} cock + sure, {{C.|16}} 16th c. Head templates: {{en-adj}} cocksure (comparative more cocksure, superlative most cocksure)
  1. (informal) Too confident; overconfident. Tags: informal Categories (topical): Personality Synonyms: cock-sure Translations (overconfident): самонадеян (samonadejan) (Bulgarian), наперен (naperen) (Bulgarian), (Cantonese), itsevarma (Finnish), pewny siebie (Polish), самоуве́ренный (samouvérennyj) [masculine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-cocksure-en-adj-kOz3Tm6N Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for cocksure meaning in English (3.2kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cock",
        "3": "sure",
        "id1": "rooster"
      },
      "expansion": "cock + sure",
      "name": "affix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "16"
      },
      "expansion": "16th c.",
      "name": "C."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from cock + sure, early 16th c.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more cocksure",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most cocksure",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cocksure (comparative more cocksure, superlative most cocksure)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Personality",
          "orig": "en:Personality",
          "parents": [
            "Mind",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1716, Alexander Pope, letter to the Earl of Burlington",
          "text": "I thought myself cocksure of his horse, which he readily promis'd me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1906, John Galsworthy, “preface”, in The Man of Property",
          "text": "The persistence of the Past is one of those tragicomic blessings which each new age denies, coming cocksure on to the stage to mouth its claim to a perfect novelty.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1920, Sinclair Lewis, “XXIII”, in Main Street",
          "text": "These crack specialists, the young scientific fellows, they're so cocksure and so wrapped up in their laboratories that they miss the human element.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1954, Bertrand Russell, History as an Art, page 197",
          "text": "Cocksure certainty is the source of much that is worst in our present world, and it is something of which the contemplation of history ought to cure us, not only or chiefly because there were wise men in the past, but because so much that was thought wisdom turned out to be folly – which suggests that much of our own supposed wisdom is no better. I do not mean to maintain that we should lapse into a lazy scepticism. We should hold our beliefs, and hold them strongly. Nothing great is achieved without passion, but underneath the passion there should always be that large impersonal survey which sets limits to actions that our passions inspire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Too confident; overconfident."
      ],
      "id": "en-cocksure-en-adj-kOz3Tm6N",
      "links": [
        [
          "confident",
          "confident"
        ],
        [
          "overconfident",
          "overconfident"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Too confident; overconfident."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "cock-sure"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "samonadejan",
          "sense": "overconfident",
          "word": "самонадеян"
        },
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "naperen",
          "sense": "overconfident",
          "word": "наперен"
        },
        {
          "code": "yue",
          "lang": "Cantonese",
          "sense": "overconfident",
          "word": "串"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "overconfident",
          "word": "itsevarma"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "overconfident",
          "word": "pewny siebie"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "samouvérennyj",
          "sense": "overconfident",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "самоуве́ренный"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cocksure"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cock",
        "3": "sure",
        "id1": "rooster"
      },
      "expansion": "cock + sure",
      "name": "affix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "16"
      },
      "expansion": "16th c.",
      "name": "C."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from cock + sure, early 16th c.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more cocksure",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most cocksure",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cocksure (comparative more cocksure, superlative most cocksure)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English compound terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Personality"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1716, Alexander Pope, letter to the Earl of Burlington",
          "text": "I thought myself cocksure of his horse, which he readily promis'd me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1906, John Galsworthy, “preface”, in The Man of Property",
          "text": "The persistence of the Past is one of those tragicomic blessings which each new age denies, coming cocksure on to the stage to mouth its claim to a perfect novelty.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1920, Sinclair Lewis, “XXIII”, in Main Street",
          "text": "These crack specialists, the young scientific fellows, they're so cocksure and so wrapped up in their laboratories that they miss the human element.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1954, Bertrand Russell, History as an Art, page 197",
          "text": "Cocksure certainty is the source of much that is worst in our present world, and it is something of which the contemplation of history ought to cure us, not only or chiefly because there were wise men in the past, but because so much that was thought wisdom turned out to be folly – which suggests that much of our own supposed wisdom is no better. I do not mean to maintain that we should lapse into a lazy scepticism. We should hold our beliefs, and hold them strongly. Nothing great is achieved without passion, but underneath the passion there should always be that large impersonal survey which sets limits to actions that our passions inspire.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Too confident; overconfident."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "confident",
          "confident"
        ],
        [
          "overconfident",
          "overconfident"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Too confident; overconfident."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cock-sure"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "samonadejan",
      "sense": "overconfident",
      "word": "самонадеян"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "naperen",
      "sense": "overconfident",
      "word": "наперен"
    },
    {
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Cantonese",
      "sense": "overconfident",
      "word": "串"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "overconfident",
      "word": "itsevarma"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "overconfident",
      "word": "pewny siebie"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "samouvérennyj",
      "sense": "overconfident",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "самоуве́ренный"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cocksure"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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