From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishself-congratulationˌself-congratuˈlation noun [uncountable] SHOW OFFbehaviour that shows in an annoying way that you think you have done very well at something —self-congratulatory / $ ˌ..ˈ...../ adjective a smug, self-congratulatory smile
Examples from the Corpus
self-congratulation• Expect whoops of absurd self-congratulation if they do.• We have heard 47 minutes of the most extraordinary self-congratulation and complacency that can have ever been heard.• Bertha Cohen nodded, and Rev. Levitt smiled in self-congratulation.• Yet it ought not to be long before some healthy doubts begin to disturb this mood of self-congratulation.• Both the rhetoric of self-congratulation and self-flagellation have missed out how much Britain has changed since 1945. 