Adjacent Words

Smart definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SM'ART, n. [This word is probably formed on the root of L. amarus, bitter, that is, sharp.]
1. Quick, pungent, lively pain; a pricking local pain, as the pain from puncture by nettles; as the smart of bodily punishment.
2. Severe pungent pain of mind; pungent grief; as the smart of affliction.
SM'ART, v.i.
1. To feel a lively pungent pain, particularly a pungent local pain from some piercing or irritating application. Thus Cayeene pepper applied to the tongue makes it smart.
2. To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain; as, to smart under sufferings.
3. To be punished; to bear penalties or the evil consequences of any thing. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. Proverbs 11.
SM'ART, a.
1. Pungent; pricking; causing a keen local pain; as a smart lash or stroke; a smart quality or taste.
2. Keen; severe; poignant; as smart pain or sufferings.
3. Quick; vigorous; sharp; severe; as a smart skirmish.
4. Brisk; fresh; as a smart breeze.
5. Acute and pertinent; witty; as a smart reply; a smart saying.
6. Brisk; vivacious; as a smart rhetorician. Who, for the poor renown of being smart, would leave a sting within a brother's heart?
SM'ART, n. A cant word for a fellow that affects briskness and vivacity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness [ant: stupid]
2: elegant and stylish; "chic elegance"; "a smart new dress"; "a suit of voguish cut" [syn: chic, smart, voguish]
3: characterized by quickness and ease in learning; "some children are brighter in one subject than another"; "smart children talk earlier than the average" [syn: bright, smart]
4: improperly forward or bold; "don't be fresh with me"; "impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup"; "an impudent boy given to insulting strangers"; "Don't get wise with me!" [syn: fresh, impertinent, impudent, overbold, smart, saucy, sassy, wise]
5: painfully severe; "he gave the dog a smart blow"
6: quick and brisk; "I gave him a smart salute"; "we walked at a smart pace"
7: capable of independent and apparently intelligent action; "smart weapons" n
1: a kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore [syn: smart, smarting, smartness] v
1: be the source of pain [syn: ache, smart, hurt]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English smert causing pain, from Old English smeart; akin to Old English smeortan Date: before 12th century 1. making one smart ; causing a sharp stinging 2. marked by often sharp forceful activity or vigorous strength <a smart pull of the starter cord> 3. brisk, spirited <a smart pace> 4. a. mentally alert ; bright b. knowledgeable c. shrewd <a smart investment> 5. a. witty, clever <a smart sitcom> b. pert, saucy <don't get smart with me> 6. a. neat, trim <soldiers in smart uniforms> b. stylish or elegant in dress or appearance c. (1) appealing to sophisticated tastes (2) characteristic of or patronized by fashionable society 7. a. being a guided missile <a laser-guided smart bomb> b. operating by automation <a smart machine tool> c. intelligent 3 • smartly adverb • smartness noun II. intransitive verb Etymology: Middle English smerten, from Old English smeortan; akin to Old High German smerzan to pain Date: 13th century 1. to cause or be the cause or seat of a sharp stinging pain; also to feel or have such a pain 2. a. to feel or endure distress, remorse, or embarrassment <smarting from wounded vanity — W. L. Shirer> b. to pay a heavy or stinging penalty <would have to smart for this foolishness> III. noun Date: 13th century 1. a smarting pain; especially a stinging local pain 2. poignant grief or remorse <was not the sort to get over smarts — Sir Winston Churchill> 3. plural, slang intelligence, know-how IV. adverb Date: 13th century in a smart manner ; smartly

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., v., n., & adv. --adj. 1 a clever; ingenious; quickwitted (a smart talker; gave a smart answer). b keen in bargaining; quick to take advantage. c (of transactions etc.) unscrupulous to the point of dishonesty. 2 well-groomed; neat; bright and fresh in appearance (a smart suit). 3 in good repair; showing bright colours, new paint, etc. (a smart red bicycle). 4 stylish; fashionable; prominent in society (in all the smart restaurants; the smart set). 5 quick; brisk (set a smart pace). 6 painfully severe; sharp; vigorous (a smart blow). --v.intr. 1 (of a person or a part of the body) feel or give acute pain or distress (my eye smarts; smarting from the insult). 2 (of an insult, grievance, etc.) rankle. 3 (foll. by for) suffer the consequences of (you will smart for this). --n. a bodily or mental sharp pain; a stinging sensation. --adv. smartly; in a smart manner. Phrases and idioms: look smart make haste. smart-arse (or -ass) = SMART ALEC. smart-money 1 money paid or exacted as a penalty or compensation. 2 money invested by persons with expert knowledge. Derivatives: smartingly adv. smartish adj. & adv. smartly adv. smartness n. Etymology: OE smeart, smeortan

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Smart Smart, a. [Compar. Smarter; superl. Smartest.] [OE. smerte. See Smart, v. i.] 1. Causing a smart; pungent; pricking; as, a smart stroke or taste. How smart lash that speech doth give my conscience. --Shak. 2. Keen; severe; poignant; as, smart pain. 3. Vigorous; sharp; severe. ``Smart skirmishes, in which many fell.'' --Clarendon. 4. Accomplishing, or able to accomplish, results quickly; active; sharp; clever. [Colloq.] 5. Efficient; vigorous; brilliant. ``The stars shine smarter.'' --Dryden. 6. Marked by acuteness or shrewdness; quick in suggestion or reply; vivacious; witty; as, a smart reply; a smart saying. Who, for the poor renown of being smart Would leave a sting within a brother's heart? --Young. A sentence or two, . . . which I thought very smart. --Addison. 7. Pretentious; showy; spruce; as, a smart gown.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Smart Smart, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Smarted; p. pr. & vb. n. Smarting.] [OE. smarten, AS. smeortan; akin to D. smarten, smerten, G. schmerzen, OHG. smerzan, Dan. smerte, SW. sm["a]rta, D. smart, smert, a pain, G. schmerz, Ohg. smerzo, and probably to L. mordere to bite; cf. Gr. ????, ?????, terrible, fearful, Skr. m?d to rub, crush. Cf. Morsel.] 1. To feel a lively, pungent local pain; -- said of some part of the body as the seat of irritation; as, my finger smarts; these wounds smart. --Chaucer. --Shak. 2. To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to suffer; to feel the sting of evil. No creature smarts so little as a fool. --Pope. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. --Prov. xi. 15.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Smart Smart, v. t. To cause a smart in. ``A goad that . . . smarts the flesh.'' --T. Adams.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Smart Smart, n. [OE. smerte. See Smart, v. i.] 1. Quick, pungent, lively pain; a pricking local pain, as the pain from puncture by nettles. ``In pain's smart.'' --Chaucer. 2. Severe, pungent pain of mind; pungent grief; as, the smart of affliction. To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart. --Milton. Counsel mitigates the greatest smart. --Spenser. 3. A fellow who affects smartness, briskness, and vivacity; a dandy. [Slang] --Fielding. 4. Smart money (see below). [Canf]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(smarter, smartest, smarts, smarting, smarted) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Smart people and things are pleasantly neat and clean in appearance. (mainly BRIT) He was smart and well groomed but not good looking... I was dressed in a smart navy blue suit. ...smart new offices. ADJ • smartly He dressed very smartly which was important in those days. ...a smartly-painted door. ADV: ADV with v • smartness The jumper strikes the perfect balance between comfort and smartness. 2. You can describe someone who is clever as smart. He thinks he's smarter than Sarah is... Buying expensive furniture is not necessarily the smartest move to make. ADJ see also smartly, street smart 3. A smart place or event is connected with wealthy and fashionable people. ...smart London dinner parties. ...a smart residential district. ADJ: usu ADJ n 4. Smart bombs and weapons are guided by computers and lasers so that they hit their targets accurately. ADJ: ADJ n 5. If a part of your body or a wound smarts, you feel a sharp stinging pain in it. My eyes smarted from the smoke. = sting VERB: V 6. If you are smarting from something such as criticism or failure, you feel upset about it. (JOURNALISM) The Americans were still smarting from their defeat in the Vietnam War... VERB: usu cont, V from n 7. the smart money: see money

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Pungent or sharp pain, lancinating pain. II. v. n. 1. Feel sharp pain. 2. Suffer, be punished. III. a. 1. Sharp, stinging, keen, severe, poignant, pungent, pricking, painful. 2. Vigorous, forcible, effective, energetic, efficient. 3. Vigorous, sharp, severe, lively, active, quick. 4. Brisk, fresh, smacking. 5. Lively, brisk, vivacious, witty, ready, sprightly, spirited, brilliant. 6. Expert, dexterous, clever, quick, active, intelligent, stirring. 7. Witty, acute, apt, pertinent. 8. Spruce, trim, fine, showy, pretentious. 9. Agile, nimble, quick, alert, active.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Spruce, fine: as smart as a carrot new scraped.

Moby Thesaurus

Attic, ache, active, acute, adept, adroit, affect, affliction, agile, agonize, ail, alacritous, alert, alive, all the rage, all the thing, anal, anguish, animated, apt, astute, attentive, au fait, awake, aware, bantering, be resentful, biggety, bite, biting, blanch, blench, bluff, bold, booing, brainy, brash, braw, breezy, bright, brilliant, brisk, burn, burning, burning pain, canny, capable, catcalling, chaffing, cheeky, chic, chutzpadik, classy, clever, clothes-conscious, cocky, come home to, contemptuous, cosmopolitan, crusty, current, dapper, dashing, derisive, derisory, dexterous, dinky, discerning, dispatchful, disrespectful, dressed to advantage, dressed to kill, droll, effective, elegant, energetic, erudite, exclusive, expeditious, exquisite, facetious, facy, fashionable, feel hurt, feel pain, feel resentment, feel sore, feel the pangs, fire, fleering, flip, flippant, fooling, fresh, funny, gally, genteel, gifted, go deep, go through one, good, gratuitous, grimace, grinning, harm, have a misery, hep, hip, hissing, hooting, humorous, humorsome, hurt, impertinent, impudent, in fashion, in style, in vogue, ingenious, injury, intelligent, jaunty, jeering, jesting, jocose, jocular, joking, joky, joshing, keen, keen-witted, kidding, knowing, knowledgeable, learned, leering, lively, malapert, melt, melt the heart, mocking, mod, modern, modish, mordant, move, natty, neat, nervy, new, newfashioned, nifty, nimble, nimble-witted, no dumbbell, nobby, not born yesterday, nurse resentment, on the, on the alert, on the ball, on the job, pain, pang, panning, penetrate, perceptive, percipient, perky, perspicacious, pert, pierce, pinch, poignant, pointed, popular, posh, pound, prevalent, prick, prickle, prompt, pungent, qui vive, quick, quick-thinking, quick-witted, quizzical, ragging, railing, rallying, rapier-like, razzing, ready, recherche, resent, respectable, ridiculing, right, ritzy, roasting, rude, salt, salty, sassy, saucy, savvy, scintillating, scoffing, severe, sharp, sharp-witted, shipshape, shoot, shrewd, shrink, sizable, sleek, sleepless, slick, smart-alecky, smart-ass, smarting, smirking, smug, snappy, snazzy, sneering, snickering, sniggering, snorting, snug, soften, soigne, soignee, sophisticated, sparkling, speedy, spiffy, spirited, sprightly, spruce, spry, stab, steel-trap, stiff, sting, stinging, stir, streetwise, style-conscious, stylish, suffer, suffering, swank, swanky, swell, swift, swish, talented, taunting, teasing, thrill, throb, tidy, tight, tingle, tingling, touch, touch a chord, trenchant, trendy, tricksy, trig, trim, twinge, twitch, twitting, unblinking, uncalled-for, unnodding, unsleeping, unwinking, up-to-date, up-to-datish, up-to-the-minute, urtication, vigorous, wakeful, well-cared-for, well-dressed, well-educated, well-groomed, well-read, well-versed, whimsical, wide-awake, wince, wise-ass, with-it, witty, writhe