Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright. See Synonyms at intelligent.
- adj. Amusingly clever; witty: a smart quip; a lively, smart conversation.
- adj. Impertinent; insolent: That's enough of your smart talk.
- adj. Energetic or quick in movement: a smart pace.
- adj. Canny and shrewd in dealings with others: a smart negotiator.
- adj. Fashionable; elegant: a smart suit; a smart restaurant; the smart set. See Synonyms at fashionable.
- adj. Capable of making adjustments that resemble human decisions, especially in response to changing circumstances: smart missiles.
- adj. Manufactured to regulate the amount of light transmitted in response to varying light conditions or to an electronic sensor or control unit: smart windows.
- adj. New England & Southern U.S. Accomplished; talented: He's a right smart ball player.
- v. To cause a sharp, usually superficial, stinging pain: The slap delivered to my face smarted.
- v. To be the location of such a pain: The incision on my leg smarts.
- v. To feel such a pain.
- v. To suffer acutely, as from mental distress, wounded feelings, or remorse: "No creature smarts so little as a fool” ( Alexander Pope).
- v. To suffer or pay a heavy penalty.
- n. Sharp mental or physical pain. See Synonyms at pain.
- n. Slang Intelligence; expertise: a reporter with a lot of smarts.
- smart off Informal To speak or act impertinently.
- idiom. right smart New England & Southern U.S. A lot; a considerable amount: He did right smart of the work himself.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To feel a lively, pungent pain; also, to be the seat of a pungent local pain, as from some piercing or irritating application; be acutely painful: often used impersonally.
- To feel mental pain or suffering of any kind; suffer; be distressed; suffer evil consequences; bear a penalty.
- To cause a smart or sharp pain; cause suffering or distress.
- To cause a smart or pain to or in; cause to smart.
- n. A sharp, quick, lively pain; especially, a pricking local pain, as the pain from the sting of nettles.
- n. Hence, mental pain or suffering of any kind; pungent grief; affliction.
- n. Same as smart-money: as, to pay the smart.
- n. A dandy; one who affects smartness in dress; also, one who affects briskness, vivacity, or cleverness.
- Causing a smart or sharp pain; especially, causing a pricking local pain; pungent; stinging.
- Sharp; keen; poignant: applied to physical or mental pain or suffering.
- Marked by or executed with force or vigor; vigorous; efficient; sharp; severe: as, a smart blow; a smart skirmish; a smart walk.
- Brisk; lively; fresh: as, a smart breeze.
- Acute and pertinent; witty; especially, marked by a sharpness winch is nearer to pertness or impertinence than to genuine wit; superficially witty: noting remarks, writings, etc.: as, a smart reply; a smart saying.
- Brisk; vivacious; lively; witty; especially, sharp and impertinent, or pert and forward, rather than genuinely witty: noting persons.
- Dressed in an elaborately nice or showy manner; well-dressed; spruce.
- Elaborately nice; elegant; fine; showy: noting articles of dress.
- Quick; active; intelligent; clever: as, a smart business man.
- Keen, as in bargain-making; sharp, and often of questionable honesty; well able to take care of one's own interests.
- Fashionable; stylish; brilliant.
- Careful; punctual; quick.
- Considerable; large; as, a right smart distance.
- Forcible; earnest.
- Having strong qualities; strong.
- In good health; well; not sick.
- Swift-sailing, as a vessel: in distinction from able, stanch, or seaworthy.
- Up to the mark; well turned out; creditable.
- Smartly; vigorously; quickly; sharp.
- A contracted form of smarteth, third person singular present indicative of smart.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive To hurt or sting.
- adj. Causing sharp pain; stinging.
- adj. Sharp; keen; poignant.
- adj. Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
- adj. Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.
- adj. Equipped with intelligent behaviour.
- adj. Good-looking.
- adj. Cleverly and/or sarcastically humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful. Cf: (verb) to smart off; (noun) smarty pants, wise guy, wiseacre, wise-ass; (adjective) cute.
- adj. Sudden and intense.
- adj. US, Southern, dated Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.
- n. A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
- n. Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
- n. Smart-money.
- n. A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To feel a lively, pungent local pain; -- said of some part of the body as the seat of irritation.
- v. To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to suffer; to feel the sting of evil.
- v. To cause a smart in.
- n. Quick, pungent, lively pain; a pricking local pain, as the pain from puncture by nettles.
- n. Severe, pungent pain of mind; pungent grief.
- n. Slang A fellow who affects smartness, briskness, and vivacity; a dandy.
- n. Canf Smart money (see below).
- adj. Causing a smart; pungent; pricking.
- adj. Keen; severe; poignant.
- adj. Vigorous; sharp; severe.
- adj. colloq. Accomplishing, or able to accomplish, results quickly; active; sharp; clever.
- adj. Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
- adj. Marked by acuteness or shrewdness; quick in suggestion or reply; vivacious; witty.
- adj. Pretentious; showy; spruce.
- adj. Brisk; fresh.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
- adj. improperly forward or bold
- adj. painfully severe
- adj. characterized by quickness and ease in learning
- adj. quick and brisk
- adj. capable of independent and apparently intelligent action
- v. be the source of pain
- adj. elegant and stylish
- n. a kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore
Etymologies
- 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. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, stinging, keen, alert, from Old English smeart, causing pain. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In fact, mommy is SO smart that she rapes all the silly vain ’smart’ women, forcing them into pregnancy or death.”
“Of course, you could also argue that Bob was smart enough to get himself into those rarefied realms in the first place, but there is a lot more to that than ’smart.’”
“After all, the term "smart growth" was first coined in Maryland.”
The Washington Post: Smart growth bill capitalizes on Maryland transit
“Harvard international affairs expert Joseph Nye, often credited with coining the term "smart power," said Clinton and Obama had made strides in coordinating work between the Pentagon and the State Department.”
“Research reveals the UK is confused by the term smart/casual”
“On the security side, the competitive picture is -- you know, McAfee acquired Secure Computing so where we would use the term smart filter, our sum product in that are the web watcher product, that hasn't really changed.”
“One website, Macaoyuan, features a popular posting named 30 Money Saving Tricks, which is geared towards what it calls smart penny pinching women in Shanghai.”
Voice of America: China Looks for Online Bargains as Consumer Prices Rise
“Apple Olive Oil Cake Many people think a healthy diet doesn't include desserts, but pastry chef Amanda Tutone is a firm believer in what she calls "smart indulgence.”
The Wall Street Journal: Keeping Up With the Guys on the Slopes
“We do have an early ETF business that is more focused on what we call smart passive strategies for fixed-income investing.”
“And therefore, African Americans and Latinos have an equal stake in what I describe as a smart on crime approach to fixing the system.”
The Huffington Post: Kamala D. Harris: A Smart on Crime Approach to Civil Rights
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘smart’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
philosophy, Socratic, dialogue, philosopher, Athenian, philosophical, politic, Greek, method, death, ancient, believe and 243 more...
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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EN - pseudo-English words
English words used by foreigners in a different sense than they would be used by native speakers + madeupical "English" words that sound English but are not recognized as such by native speakers of...
abseiling, advertising, agroboy, airco, air-condition, relooker, apart, autogrill, autostop, babykiller, baby-foot, babylift and 263 more...
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The Buzz
The bang, the cannonade,
the bale, the hum.lab situation, media, startup, scientific, gameplay, social, intuitive, creative, collaborative, funding, non-governmental ..., consultant and 124 more...
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EN - newSPEAK
Buzzwords of our time
actionable, administrivia, advermation, agreeance, backbone provider, back-sourcing, baked in, bandwidth, barn raising, Barneyware, belly-buttons, Below Zeros and 1078 more...
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Describing People
eye, hair, mouth, nose, tooth, head, face, arm, hand, finger, lip, leg and 212 more...
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Semordnilap
Semordnilap is a name coined for a word or phrase that spells a different word or phrase backwards. semordnilap is itself palindromes spelled backwards. According to author O.V. Michaelsen, it was ...
was, saw, god, dog, gateman, nametag, enoteca, acetone, deliver, reviled, straw, warts and 16 more...
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RBC: Adjectives for Henry's Ma
Our class list of adjectives for Henry's Ma.
determined, cautious, disappointed, uncertain, wise, stubborn, passionate, unsupportive, forgiving, firm, honest, dishonest and 36 more...
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sentient
think words
wise, witty, smart, brilliant, sentient, extrapolate, imagination, intelligence, polymath, contemplate, calculate, create and 2 more...
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Riley's list
Adjectives to describe Riley.
amazing, awesome, smart, nice, modest, genius, intense, the best, great, suave, narcissistic
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Words That Sell Snake Oil
Trying to sell an overpriced e-book that will communicate the true secrets of wealth, power, or yard-care? Here are some helpful words to sprinkle in your copy.
sensational, expertise, secrets, guaranteed, success, legitimate, conclusive, amazing, smart, free, easy, automatic and 18 more...
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This intriguing novel .... is a taut,...
Crimes committed by book reviewers. Terms here are culled shamelessly from a recent New York Times blog post, and the comments that it generated.
Seven Deadly Sins
See a...poignant, compelling, taut, lyrical, spare, eschew, limn, craft, nuanced, contrived, majestic, subtle and 52 more...
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EN - overused words
approach, project, expertise, agenda, benchmarking, sustainable, competence, mainstreaming, streamlining, roadmap, action, evaluation and 26 more...
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Descriptive
The present, the future. Goals, wishes, hopes.
capricious, sericeous, sleek, flawless, charming, skilled, long-haired, versatile, beautiful, witty, fair, thin and 145 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for smart.

oroboros Trams in reverse. Jul 22, 2007