Cambridge directly records content + to-infinitive and content with + noun, supporting this narrow complement comparison.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “content to do something” when content is followed by an infinitive action. Use “content with something” when the complement names the situation or thing with which someone is satisfied.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termscontent to do, content with something
Further guidance
Core difference
Cambridge documents content + to-infinitive and content with + noun as standard complement patterns.
Style Boundary
Use with before the situation or thing someone accepts; use to + base verb for an action someone is willing or satisfied to continue with.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Content↗ (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for content + to-infinitive and content with + noun.
Cambridge directly records amazed + to-infinitive and amazed at + complement, making it an evidence-safe replacement for the unsupported Satisfied proposal.
Oxford directly records both ashamed + to-infinitive and ashamed of + noun/pronoun. The guide compares those attested structures without inventing an unsupported parallel complement.
Oxford directly documents averse to (doing) something. This is a prepositional to + noun/-ing construction, so a bare infinitive should not be assumed to be an interchangeable complement.
Oxford documents the idiomatic adjective pattern bent on (doing) something for determination. The evidence does not license a parallel bent + to-infinitive complement for that same meaning.
