Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Informal One who claims to know everything and rejects advice or information from others.
Wiktionary
- n. One who makes it appear as if they're an expert on a subject while there are also signals (subtly or blatantly noticeable) that they don't know very much on the subject or at least as much as they're acting like they do on the subject; pretending to knowledge on a subject matter -- normally intended as a pejorative.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who knows everything a person who makes pretension to great knowledge, especially one whose didactic conversational habit conspicuously reveals his belief that he has superior knowledge on many subjects; a wiseacre; a know-all; -- usually ironical.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who thinks he knows everything and refuses to accept advice or information from others
Examples
“Bert is the quintessential cantankerous old man, a know-it-all with a chip on his shoulder the size of an AARP Magazine cover.”
“Not being a know-it-all, just sometimes sexual traits will out themselves!”
“For example, the loud lady with the pink hair came across as a bit of a know-it-all – but was she really, or was it just an act?”
The Guardian: Was my quest to win a deposit for a first house utterly Pointless?
“Benedict XVI does not hide from himself that from the Fraternity for a long time have come many dissonant things - pride, a patronizing know-it-all attitude, unilateralisms etc.”
Advance Report on the Papal Letter about the Lifting of the SSPX Excommunications II
“BlackDawgz, not to be a know-it-all, but mitochondrial DNA comes from Mom, not from Dad.”
“While even I'll admit that sometimes I find him to be a know-it-all, he is one hell of a hunter and fisherman.”
“I just end up sounding like a know-it-all nag, one of the only things in the world more annoying than someone sprouting off urban tale nonsense as gospel fact.”
The Huffington Post: Alan Paul: It's Not the Sugar's Fault That Your Kid Is Hyper
“As I grew, I dismissed the idea as the result of hick ignorance (something that became a habit to a know-it-all college boy ...) and forgot the idea.”
“Me, as a know-it-all elementary school graduate before my soul was crushed in junior high.”
“I suppose I am afraid of coming over as a bossy know-it-all!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘know-it-all’.
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You think you're so smart, don't you?
Brainy kids, from someone else's POV.
poindexter, pencil head, egghead, smartmouth, geek, brainiac, square, nerdling, double-dome, brain, pointy head, honor student and 19 more...
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