cocksure

[ kok-shoor, -shur ]
See synonyms for cocksure on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. perfectly sure or certain; completely confident in one's own mind: She was cocksure that she was able to do the job better than anyone else.

  2. too certain; overconfident: He was so cocksure he would win the election that he didn't even bother to campaign.

  1. Obsolete. perfectly secure or safe.

Origin of cocksure

1
First recorded in 1510–20; cock1 + sure

Other words for cocksure

Other words from cocksure

  • cocksurely, adverb
  • cocksureness, noun

Words Nearby cocksure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cocksure in a sentence

  • In the end, the once cocksure president is left struggling to come to grips with reality.

    My W and Oliver Stone's | Scott McClellan | October 17, 2008 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Aaron Logan didn't like being told what to do, especially by a little cocksure midget.

    David Lannarck, Midget | George S. Harney
  • "We shall see," said Tiler, elated and cocksure, and I freely confess we did see that he was not quite the fool I thought him.

    The Passenger from Calais | Arthur Griffiths
  • Her cocksure intensity could not fail to impress me in my present state of deadness; I listened as if to oracles.

    The Book of Susan | Lee Wilson Dodd
  • About a generation ago scientific men, or some of them at all events, were getting rather cocksure.

  • The thought that enraged him was that the banker was so cocksure of himself, his position.

    The Fall of a Nation | Thomas Dixon

British Dictionary definitions for cocksure

cocksure

/ (ˌkɒkˈʃʊə, -ˈʃɔː) /


adjective
  1. overconfident; arrogant

Origin of cocksure

1
C16: of uncertain origin

Derived forms of cocksure

  • cocksurely, adverb
  • cocksureness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012