smart
Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
Adjective
- Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
- I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me. - 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 19, in Sense and Sensibility...
Synonyms: bright capable sophisticated witty astute brainy brilliant clever educated genius gifted ingenious intellectual intelligent keen knowledgeable piquant quick quick on the uptake quick-witted rational sagacious savvy scholared
- Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.
Synonyms: cultivated educated learned academical clueful erudite in the know knowledgeable knowledgeful knowsome savvy scholarly smart sussed switched on up on well-informed
Antonyms: ignorant uncultivated simple
- Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).
- smart car
- smartcard
- smartphone
Antonyms: dumb
- Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.
- a smart outfit
- You look smart in that business suit.
Synonyms: attractive chic dapper stylish handsome
- Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.
- He became tired of his girlfriend's smart remarks.
- Don't get smart with me!
- Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart? - 1728, Edward Young, Satire:
Synonyms: silly
- Sudden and intense.
- smart skirmishes, in which many fell - 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford,...
- There is a smart shower at 5 P.M., and in the midst of it a hummingbird is busy about the flowers in the garden, unmindful of it, though you would think that each big drop that struck him would be a serious accident. -...
- Causing sharp pain; stinging.
- How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience. - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
- Sharp; keen; poignant.
- a smart pain
- Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.
- He raised his voice; it hurt her feelings right smart.
- That cast on his leg chaffs him right smart.
- Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
- The stars shine smarter. - 1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- Pretentious; showy; spruce.
- a smart gown
- Brisk; fresh.
- a smart breeze
Origin
From Middle English smert, smart, from Old English smeart (“smarting, smart, painful”), from Proto-West Germanic *smart, from Proto-Germanic *smartaz (“hurting, aching”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert (“painful, smart”), Old Frisian smert (“sharp, painful”).
Forms
Derived
book smart book-smart heart smart hypersmart nonsmart outsmart quicksmart quick smart right smart semismart smark smart alec smart aleck smart-aleck smart-aleckism smart-alecky smart-allecky smart appliance smart arse smart-arse smartarsed smart-arsed smart as a whip smart as paint
Noun
- A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
- […] the bodie had no smart / Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell stings. - 1567, Ovid, “(please specify the book number or chapter)”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso,...
- If chance some Shepherd with a distant Dart / The Savage wound, he rowzes at the Smart, / He foams, he roars […] - 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book 5”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify...
- Of course Tommy came to grief, tumbled upon a hornets’ nest and got stung; but being used to woe, he bore the smart manfully […] - 1871, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 12, in Little Men: […], Boston, Mass.: Roberts...
- Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
- Mishaps are maistred by aduice discrete, / And counsell mitigates the greatest smart; / Found neuer help, who neuer would his hurts impart. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London:...
- But oh why didst thou not stay here below / To bless us with thy heav’n lov’d innocence, […] / To stand ’twixt us and our deserved smart / But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. - 1624 (date written),...
- I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was,—that tears started to my eyes. - 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens,...
Synonyms: anguish torment rend difficulty distress grief hardship pain smart torture trouble
- Clipping of smart money.
Antonyms: dumb money
- A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
- […] I reſolved to quit all further Converſation vvith Beaus and Smarts of all kinds, […] - 1742, Henry Fielding, “In which the Gentleman Relates the History of His Life”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph...
Synonyms: fop macaroni barbermonger beau blade blood buck carpet knight cockscomb dandy dike dood dude dudelet exquisite fashionable fast man fine gentleman foretop fribble gallant go jack-a-dandy Jemmy-Jessamy
- A fan of professional wrestling who is aware of kayfabe and the scripted nature of the competition.
- wwe's attitude toward hardcore fans is a far cry from what it was during the Monday night wars. Back then, wcw would agonize over its decisions in an attempt to outsmart the “smarts.” - 2005 June 29, "Sir" Adam...
Antonyms: mark
Origin
From Middle English smerte, from smerten (“to smart”); see above. Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smart, Low German smart, German Schmerz, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta. More above.
Forms
Derived
Verb
- To hurt or sting.
- After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"
- He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face?...
- When the thrashing stopped, Fina used the pipe to roll the first woman's corpse over. She bent down, feeling a curious distance between the sudden serenity in her mind and the actions of her limbs, and beat the flames...
- To cause a smart or sting in.
- A goad that […] smarts the flesh. - a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith’s Encouragement:
- To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
- You think this cruel? take it for a rule, / No creature ſmarts ſo little as a Fool. - 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […]...
- He that is ſurety for a ſtranger ſhall ſmart for it. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:15:
- Meanvvhile the Abate exulted in ſucceſsful vengeance, and the marquis ſmarted beneath the ſtings of diſappointment. - 1790, [Ann Radcliffe], chapter XI, in A Sicilian Romance. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas]...
Origin
From Middle English smerten, from Old English *smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-West Germanic *smertan, from Proto-Germanic *smertaną (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German schmerzen, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta.