pert

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 

View all »
Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Trim and stylish in appearance; jaunty: a pert hat.
  2. adjective High-spirited; vivacious.
  3. adjective Impudently bold; saucy.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • But you give me leave to be pert, and you know the meaning of it all, after all. —  The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
  • He put one hand on a pert, nicely rounded breast, the other between her legs. —  The Lake House
  • Ben was an ex-pert, and Lunt respected expert testimony. —  The Fuzzy Papers
  • They were true talking mynas from southern India -- pert, hoppy little creatures amusingly yellow-wattled, with iridescent black wings and bass voices. —  Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
  • [Footnote 14: Peart or peert is only another form of the old word pert — probably an older form. —  The Hoosier Schoolmaster
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Pert has been looked up 320 times, favorited 0 times, listed 29 times, and commented on 0 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

saucy ·  impertinent ·  pretty ·  insolent ·  vivacious ·  cute ·  presumptuous ·  good-looking ·  plump ·  perky ·  naughty ·  shapely
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, unconcealed, bold, short for apert, obvious, frank (probably influenced by Old French aspert, espert, clever), from Old French, from Latin apertus, open, past participle of aperīre, to open; see wer-4 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from pert, a.; a variant of perk, v.
  2. By apheresis from apert, q.v.
  3. Middle English perte; from pert, a.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/pərt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recent Lookups

Francus · guerdon · referees · tibetan · dilemma

Recent Favorites

emulous · abdicated · pique · mellifluous · zeitgeist

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious