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complacent
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show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • Over and over during training, we were told never to be complacent,   (source)
    complacent = unworried and satisfied
  • It is essential, then, to keep one's attention focused on the present; to guard against any complacency creeping in on account of what one may have achieved in the past.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction (often unconcerned to a fault)
  • This was the basis of the profound crisis that shattered the scientific complacency of the Gilded Age.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction (to a fault)
  • She was quite sure (or only hopeful) that she wasn't that weak, not that liable to fall docilely into the complacent expectations of parents, friends, and even herself.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • ...his "off on a cloud" complacency.   (source)
    complacency = unworried to a fault
  • The pressure was building, upon me as well as on Moody, threatening to tear apart my careful plan to lull him into complacency.   (source)
    complacency = being content not to worry
  • Then August's face undergoes another transformation, melding into something close to complacency.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction (lack of concern)
  • Milo nodded serenely with complacent gratification.   (source)
    complacent = contented
  • Cedric watches the men chat, chummy and complacent, his eyes darting from one face to the other.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • Their smiles were all the more complacent because he had never had the reputation of being a conformist.   (source)
  • ...she'd believed that they [the Mundanes] were soft, stupid, sheeplike in their complacency.   (source)
    complacency = contentment (unworried to a fault)
  • Fundidora, was quick to remind complacent or forgetful employees of the fragile demarcation between life and death.   (source)
    complacent = unworried and satisfied (often to a fault)
  • Nor will certain ideas forget me; they keep filing away at my lethargy, my complacency.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction and lack of concern
  • That would have wiped that complacent smile off his face.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • Complacency is over.   (source)
    complacency = contentment (without concern -- often to a fault)
  • "She says I can make stronger think-pictures than anybody at all," she concluded complacently.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment
  • But he'd let himself become too complacent with what he'd been doing.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • The malakhim sat on either side of him, their hands clasped complacently on their black robes.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment (unworried and satisfied)
  • I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist.   (source)
    complacent = contented (satisfied and unconcerned)
  • He cast an anxious look toward La Fayette, who was complacently spreading goose-liver paste on his bread.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment (unworried and satisfied)
  • There is often complacency in the acceptance of misery. We fear parting from our familiar roles. We fear the consequences of such a parting. We fear happiness because we fear failure. But we must overcome these fears.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction (often unworried to a fault)
  • She watched them [the goldfish] swimming dreamily, ignoring her in their useless complacency.   (source)
    complacency = contentment (often unworried to a fault)
  • "The workers are starving in England," she declared complacently.   (source)
    complacently = without concern (contented)
  • I am part of that, a little solemn with the feel of those long winters, a little complacent from growing up in the Carraway house in a city where dwellings are still called through decades by a family's name.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy) -- often to a fault
  • If ... you let the idea of "we Christians" drop out altogether and merely make him complacent about "his set", you will produce not true spiritual pride but mere social vanity   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. ...one is so easily bruised, so swiftly wounded... Today, wrapped in the complacent armour of approaching middle age...   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy) -- often to a fault
  • Scarlett seemed demure and sweet enough these days, but there was a pleased complacency in her eyes which annoyed people...   (source)
    complacency = excess of self-satisfaction
  • ...the town of Oran ends by seeming restful and, after a while, you go complacently to sleep there.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment (unworried and satisfied)
  • Dominique watched him complacently, as if he presented no further problem to her.   (source)
    complacently = in a satisfied manner -- without any concern
  • "Not to be able to have children anymore … Anyhow," she added complacently, "I'm nowhere near the change because I'm that way again."   (source)
    complacently = with contentment (unworried and satisfied)
  • I should not be too complacent because...   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • "Four hundred and forty-four pounds, four and fourpence," said Poirot with some complacency.   (source)
    complacency = contentedness (satisfaction without worry)
  • Rocky beams complacently and takes the glasses back to the bar.   (source)
    complacently = with satisfaction
  • He had done nothing to shake her complacency.   (source)
    complacency = contentedness (satisfied and unworried)
  • His words without his voice might have impressed her, but when she heard the self-satisfied lilt of them, when she saw the mouth moving so complacently and ... she felt, quite illogically, that this was not the last word on India.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment  (satisfied and unworried -- perhaps to a fault)
  • Their last agitation was removed by the complacence of Mr. Tozer.   (source)
    complacence = without concern -- probably to a fault
  • Closely looked at, this beautiful demigod of love was no more than a complacent and rather spoiled young man with pleasant manners.   (source)
    complacent = unworried and satisfied
  • Tiny smiled grimly and assured me that Lena would never be either shabby
    or rich. "And I don't want to be," the other agreed complacently.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment  (unworried and satisfied)
  • She spoke with the cold-blooded complacency of the aged throwing earth into the grave of young hopes.   (source)
    complacency = without concern
  • he himself had carelessly - with a certain, inexplicable complacency - mentioned it to acquaintances   (source)
    complacency = contentment (unworried satisfaction)
  • She gave a little laugh of happy complacency.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction
  • Edna could not control a feeling which bordered upon complacency at her friend's praise, even realizing, as she did, its true worth.   (source)
    complacency = without concern -- often to a fault
  • Jokubas possesses what his wife complacently describes as "poetiszka vaidintuve"—a poetical imagination.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment (unworried and satisfied)
  • With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.   (source)
    complacency = without concern -- often to a fault
  • an expression of complacent satisfaction   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy) -- often to a fault
  • TESMAN. [Hums a little and smiles complacently.]  Yes, I fancy I have several good friends about town who would like to stand in my shoes--eh?   (source)
    complacently = in a satisfied manner
  • "Sure," said Pete, with proper complacence.   (source)
    complacence = lack of concern
  • This good woman was made happy all the day long by the applauses which she got out of herself for her magnanimous condescension to a tramp; and the King was just as self-complacent over his gracious humility toward a humble peasant woman.   (source)
    complacent = satisfied
  • It was really worth considering why this certainly very amiable and complacent person ... was following Mr. Fogg's tracks step by step.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • From that day she was a model of obedience, and the old lady complacently admired the success of her training.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment  (satisfied and unworried)
  • ...looked up at us complacently, and said,   (source)
    complacently = with contentment  (unworried and satisfied)
  • indeed everything was filled with sperm, except the captain's pantaloons pockets, and those he reserved to thrust his hands into, in self-complacent testimony of his entire satisfaction.   (source)
    complacent = contented (satisfied)
  • "You are a very complacent husband, my dear Monsieur Bonacieux," said the cardinal.   (source)
    complacent = unworried and satisfied
  • Having levelled my palace, don't erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home.   (source)
    complacently = in a self-satisfied manner
  • Venturing one day to substitute deeds for words, he turned up his cuffs, seized a plasterer's board, and having loaded his trowel without mishap, with a complacent look toward the lathing overhead, made a bold gesture thitherward; and straightway, to his complete discomfiture, received the whole contents in his ruffled bosom.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • The marriage was highly approved of by Mrs. Shelby, who, with a little womanly complacency in match-making, felt pleased to unite her handsome favorite with one of her own class who seemed in every way suited to her;   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction
  • Jane met her with a smile of such sweet complacency, a glow of such happy expression, as sufficiently marked how well she was satisfied with the occurrences of the evening.   (source)
    complacency = contentment (happiness)
  • men are so self-complacent in their own affairs,   (source)
    complacent = unworried and satisfied
  • We have perhaps been too distracted by our business, complacent in our personal joy, neglectful of our customs and our duties to the Lord.†   (source)
  • A complacent wife?†   (source)
  • But it was evident that underneath their apparent complacency, Savannah's blacks were beset by an anguish and despair that ran so deep and expressed itself with such violence that it had made Savannah the murder capital of America.†   (source)
  • Their tones of voice were unhurried and self-confident, complacent with the knowledge that the work at our place was farther along, the buildings at our place more imposing and better cared for.†   (source)
  • Once in the cab of the tomato-red pickup, Hester and Owen were freed from the regulations of the Dance Committee; they lit up, the smoke from their cigarettes concealed the assumed complacency of their expressions, and each of them lolled an arm out a rolled-down window as Owen turned up the volume of the radio and drove, artfully away.†   (source)
  • When he turns to go, the perfumer's complacency splinters.†   (source)
  • We are not complacent about the average age of our contributors and are keen to publish promising young writers.†   (source)
  • We huddle together, complacent as cattle, stamping our feet to stay warm.†   (source)
  • I find myself getting lazy and complacent at times.†   (source)
  • Above Snow, the wind was a living thing, howling around them like a wolf in the waste, then falling off to nothing as if to lure them into complacency.†   (source)
  • Sybil's beautiful face remained complacent.†   (source)
  • Then Sam James stopped me out by the cookhouse and my complacency was brought to an end.†   (source)
  • Squirming babies and plodding, complacent, hormone-drugged moms.†   (source)
  • Sometimes the contrast between how he felt now and how he'd felt then filled him with unease and he would lecture himself sternly on the dangers of complacency.†   (source)
  • "Those not of the cruciform must die the true death," said Beta and her voice held the tone of complacent finality common to oft-repeated formulae and religious litanies. l follow the cross!†   (source)
  • I had been blind and complacent.†   (source)
  • Bee made us feel self-conscious at times, a punishment that visitors will unintentionally inflict on their complacent hosts.†   (source)
  • Jess was glad to escape to the shed and the complacent company of Miss Bessie.†   (source)
  • It was impossible, Nasuada believed, to be complacent around a dragon.†   (source)
  • This was an impressive number, but there was no room for complacency.†   (source)
  • It's easy to become complacent on the way home, so it's important to be extra cautious.†   (source)
  • Then a new myth, an antimyth, took root, fanned by later complacent reporters who made no effort to root out the true story.†   (source)
  • Hattie smiled complacently.†   (source)
  • My eye flicks complacently down to the price and stops still with shock.†   (source)
  • British complacency was massive.†   (source)
  • He thought of the passengers on 353: some dozing in their seats, others reading books, working on laptops, leafing through magazines, knitting, watching a movie, having a drink, making plans for the future, all of them complacent, none aware of the terrifying events occurring in the cockpit.†   (source)
  • We tried never to fall in love with a plan, because that breeds complacency.†   (source)
  • When he escorted her, she was receptive to his verbal sallies, a complacent object of his suggestive caresses as he linked arms with her and held her a little closer than was appropriate.†   (source)
  • Waiting on the Lord, as referenced in the passage from Isaiah that my mom always quoted, doesn't mean being complacent.†   (source)
  • They had grown complacent, Miri thought, more interested in ninth-grade graduation and going off to high school than about planes crashing.†   (source)
  • I can see their mouths open to catch drops of water on their tongues, washing their hooves, standing complacently under the drain spout, and then moving in Pears fragrance to a dinner of Manikappolu garbage.†   (source)
  • As I start toward them, he sees me, and his demeanor shifts from complacency to sheer panic.†   (source)
  • She felt suddenly hopeless, defeated by his complacent, self-relishing drawl, his not-quite-right "I and your dad" and his trying-too-hard Northern i's, his greedy attention to the details of class and privilege.†   (source)
  • White complacent face, sense of bland enormous superiority: my dear man, you have to live among them, you simply don't understand.†   (source)
  • They had been in the house for many months and had grown complacent and plump, their sedentary labor allowing them to acquire a suetlike avoirdupois bizarre-looking amid this fellowship of emaciated flesh.†   (source)
  • Outside their state I think Texans are a little frightened and very tender in their feelings, and these qualities cause boasting, arrogance, and noisy complacency—the outlets of shy children.†   (source)
  • These resourceful, selfconfident, masterful characters-in practical things they are invaluable, but in matters of feeling I can think of nothing more horrible than all this impertinent, male complacency!†   (source)
  • The courtroom seemed to feel, with some complacency and some disappointment, that it was his great good luck to be let off so easily.†   (source)
  • She replied, though she knew it was what wounded him most, that she would be glad if that did happen: then they would be forced to do something vigorous to support themselves; and that the real reason for his complacency was that he knew, always, that even if they did reach the verge of bankruptcy, they could always live on what they grew and their own slaughtered cattle.†   (source)
  • "You do not see," she said, and she smiled her complacent smile and went into the house.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy)
  • it sleeps complacently and will, so far as I am concerned, so sleep forever.   (source)
    complacently = in a contented manner (unworried and satisfied)
  • The bay mare Nellie quickly grew complacent.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • Lennie, who had been following the conversation back and forth with his eyes, smiled complacently at the compliment.   (source)
    complacently = with satisfaction
  • They don't know, they don't understand how agonizing their complacent dullness is.   (source)
    complacent = contented (satisfied and happy) -- often to a fault
  • in that atmosphere of smiling complacency.   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction (often unworried to a fault)
  • I don't know, I'm sure, said Mr Dedalus, smiling complacently.   (source)
    complacently = in a satisfied manner -- without any concern
  • And looking at her complacently, she added, "Humph, we certainly are a handsome family!"   (source)
  • The scout witnessed his departure with complacency,   (source)
    complacency = without concern
  • He stood complacently sunning himself in the heat.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment (unworried and satisfied)
  • Sydney Carton looked at his punch and looked at his complacent friend;   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy)
  • twirled his thumbs with an air of complacency,   (source)
    complacency = unworried satisfaction
  • "Don't be anxious about my nature," Kolya interrupted, not without complacency.   (source)
    complacency = a lack of concern -- often to a fault
  • observed Miss Fanny, glancing complacently at herself   (source)
    complacently = in a satisfied manner
  • The poor wife, with her withered beauty, smiled complacently.   (source)
    complacently = in a satisfied manner -- without any concern
  • Miss Flite received the compliment with complacency and dropped a general curtsy to us.   (source)
    complacency = contented (unworried and happy)
  • In contrast to the complacent Myra he saw her as swift and air-borne and radiant, a fire-spirit tenderly stooping to the hearth   (source)
    complacent = contented (satisfied and unworried)
  • They were both well dressed, stout and complacent and they brought a breath of opulence among the company.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy)
  • Lucy was recalled to her manners, and after a little exertion the complacency of Mr. Eager was restored.   (source)
    complacency = contentment  (unworried happiness)
  • Lady Caroline smiled complacently.   (source)
    complacently = with contentment  (unworried and satisfied)
  • "But our civilisation is moulded by great impersonal forces" (his voice grew complacent; it always did when he eliminated the personal), "and there always will be rich and poor."   (source)
    complacent = unconcerned (contented)
  • The sight of Selden's dark head, in a pew almost facing her, disturbed for a moment the balance of her complacency.   (source)
    complacency = contentment (unworried satisfaction)
  • She felt all the honest pride and complacency which her alliance with the present and future proprietor could fairly warrant,   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction and contentment
  • then rose and said, without exhibiting too much self-complacency at his success,—"The accused has confessed all."   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction
  • Having settled the question in this way, and being most complacently satisfied that in this, and in all other instances, her conjecture could not fail to be the right one, Mrs Nickleby dismissed it from her thoughts, and inwardly congratulated herself on being so shrewd and knowing.   (source)
    complacently = without concern -- often to a fault
  • He looked tired and worn, but there was the same complacent repose upon his features that they always wore:   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and happy)
  • He recalled his own criticisms of Tyndall of his complacent satisfaction in the cleverness of his experiments, and for his lack of philosophic insight.   (source)
    complacent = without concern -- often to a fault
  • Even his own, perhaps too complacent, consciousness of the agreeable improvement in his appearance might have been forgiven in such circumstances,   (source)
    complacent = satisfied (to a fault)
  • His face lit up with pride and pleasure at that thought, and he said with a cheery complacency, "I like that—it's the true old blood—hey, Pembroke?"   (source)
    complacency = satisfaction
  • Several of our men fell, among them the round-faced officer who had marched so gaily and complacently.   (source)
    complacently = in a satisfied manner -- without any concern (often to a fault)
  • There was an impressive silence; Morcerf alone knew not why such profound attention was given to an orator who was not always listened to with so much complacency.   (source)
    complacency = without concern -- often to a fault
  • Mr. Dick was so very complacent ... that I am sorry to say I was provoked into explaining to him that ruin meant distress, want, and starvation;   (source)
    complacent = happily satisfied (too a fault)
  • I had just slipped up on poor smiling and complacent Dowley so nice and easy and softly, that he never suspected anything was going to happen till the blow came crashing down and knocked him all to rags.   (source)
    complacent = contented (unworried and satisfied)
  • said she with all her accustomary complacency.   (source)
    complacency = self-satisfaction without any concern
  • the general was shortly restored to his complacency, and Catherine to all her usual ease of spirits.   (source)
    complacency = contented (unworried and happy)
  • "At Beauxbatons," said Fleur complacently, "we 'ad a different way of doing things.†   (source)
  • Or maybe I'd just got complacent by then.†   (source)
  • He was trying to lull us into complacency, but it would not work.†   (source)
  • Nearby, an old woman in a bathrobe complacently slid around the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.†   (source)
  • "I did murder five humans," she told me in a complacent tone.†   (source)
  • I do feel you might be a little less complacent as regards new arrivals.†   (source)
  • And I quite agree with you, we are all much too complacent about the great wonders that surround us.†   (source)
  • The hawk had landed beside its prey and was complacently tearing into its plump white breast.†   (source)
  • "Our place is beside the king," Ser Meryn said, complacent.†   (source)
  • His complacency, his distractedness, his position at school, his sneaky-pete drinking.†   (source)
  • 'You pompous, rotund, neighborly, vacuous, complacent…'†   (source)
  • His voice had assumed a complacent tone, as if he felt credit was due to him for nature's creations.†   (source)
  • Hattie fastened it around her neck and patted it complacently.†   (source)
  • Essey's answers were gentle and complacent.†   (source)
  • Complacent, I wait for my daddy to come and punish me for trying to die.†   (source)
  • That's the next one I was going to ask for," Jeb said complacently.†   (source)
  • Aarfy smirked complacently and shook his soft round head.†   (source)
  • Although life was now considerably more comfortable, that raised the danger of complacency.†   (source)
  • He was the archetypal petit-bourgeois, cautious, complacent, mean.†   (source)
  • _" "Perhaps," the woman replied complacently.†   (source)
  • No complacency.†   (source)
  • Everything is new and brisk, bustling and bright, vulgar and complacent, with a smell of fresh money and fresh paint about it.†   (source)
  • 'Well, now,' she said finally, setting down her quill and surveying him complacently, like a toad about to swallow a particularly juicy fly.†   (source)
  • At the least, I could see, he was showing me he hadn't forgotten, even though we'd hardly discussed anything openly; he was telling me he wasn't complacent, and that he was busy getting on with his part of the preparations.†   (source)
  • Hordes of people on the street, lighted Christmas trees sparkling high on penthouse balconies and complacent Christmas music floating out of shops, and weaving in and out of crowds I had a strange feeling of being already dead, of moving in a vaster sidewalk grayness than the street or even the city could encompass, my soul disconnected from my body and drifting among other souls in a mist somewhere between past and present, Walk Don't Walk, individual pedestrians floating up strangely…†   (source)
  • Obviously he didn't think much of people whose complacent and overprotected lives did not allow for encounters with brain-dead rats.†   (source)
  • "Oh, sometimes it takes us guys a while," said Race Goldfarb complacently, observing my discomfort, raising his voice above the infants wailing and tumbling in a nanny-supervised area of the living room.†   (source)
  • However, the possibility had already occurred to me that Mr Farraday was simply feigning indifference in order to minimize my embarrassment, and such a surreptitious delivery could be interpreted as complacency on my part towards my error - or worse, an attempt to cover it up.†   (source)
  • Dany filled his wine cup again, wanting nothing so much as to pour the flagon over his head and drown his complacent smile.†   (source)
  • He had been safe enough with Saphira and the elves keeping watch, but that was no excuse for allowing himself to become so complacent.†   (source)
  • Astapor was complacent and vulnerable.†   (source)
  • One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses.†   (source)
  • It is long since I took a pipe, but [Adams wrote] …. with great complacency, [I] placed the bowl upon the carpet …. and smoked in awful pomp, reciprocating whiff for whiff …. until coffee was brought in.†   (source)
  • The reason for their vigilance was no mystery: every one of their fights had chipped away at their complacency, leaving behind nothing but raw nerves that twitched at the slightest touch.†   (source)
  • Her ploy having failed, she forced herself to submit calmly to the rest of the man's ministrations; she needed to convince him that she had given up so he would grow complacent and, if she was lucky, careless.†   (source)
  • You can tend to get complacent with the day in, day out stuff, because, frankly, you know you're a good team and have a lot of good players.†   (source)
  • He had the canny self-assurance of an industry maverick, the outsider who tries to roil the works, japing every complacent rule of belief.†   (source)
  • I mean, you're the national champions, so you must be fairly talented to begin with, but you have to be on guard all the time so that complacency doesn't begin to set in.†   (source)
  • He was complacent and insecure, daring in the administrative stratagems he employed to bring himself to the attention of his superiors and craven in his concern that his schemes might all backfire.†   (source)
  • After our experience with the 2007 season, we knew that we needed to fight complacency and continue to press on the accelerator to stay where we were while everyone else was chasing us.†   (source)
  • They drain their glasses and get up and sort of shake themselves out, shake off the complacent airs and humors of the tavern and rearouse themselves for whatever's out there, the edgy wind-spooked street.†   (source)
  • "I know," he said, his tone complacent.†   (source)
  • Yossarian flipped his eyes open in alarm and saw the totally unexpected bulging black puffs of flak crashing down in toward them from high up and Aarfy's complacent melon-round tiny-eyed face gazing out at the approaching cannon bursts with affable bemusement.†   (source)
  • His complacent and easy pace.†   (source)
  • But this does not mean, on the other hand, that love comes easily: the white world is too powerful, too complacent, too ready with gratuitous humiliation, and, above all, too ignorant and too innocent for that.†   (source)
  • But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power: that one must never, in one's own life, accept these injustices as commonplace but mustfight them with all one's strength.†   (source)
  • With equal complacence she saw his misery, his meanness, and his torture.†   (source)
  • "It is to dig with," said the learned creature complacently.†   (source)
  • Even Mallinson had acquired a touch of half-sulky complacency.†   (source)
  • For many years I crooned complacently, "My children …. my wife …. my house …. my dog."†   (source)
  • The child was dying and looked up at him with middle-aged complacent wisdom.†   (source)
  • The plantation clearings and miles of cotton fields smiled up to a warm sun, placid, complacent.†   (source)
  • Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep.†   (source)
  • It seemed merely to be dull complacency, beside the savagery and feral wit of the Pict.†   (source)
  • "Some people got kinda coarse hair," she said complacently.†   (source)
  • Society in those days was a perfectly competent, perfectly complacent, ruthless machine.†   (source)
  • She's not very complacent about having done that.†   (source)
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