Pronunciations (2)
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/smɑɹt/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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/smɑːt/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
Verb
To hurt or sting.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"
More examples (2)
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? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."
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 off the jacket with her bare hands. They were sooty and smarting as she used them to pry the garment off the woman's slack shoulders, and threw it over her own.
To cause a smart or sting in.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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A goad that […] smarts the flesh.
To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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You think this cruel? take it for a rule, / No creature ſmarts ſo little as a Fool.
He that is ſurety for a ſtranger ſhall ſmart for it.
More examples (2)
Meanvvhile the Abate exulted in ſucceſsful vengeance, and the marquis ſmarted beneath the ſtings of diſappointment.
Tiresias. I say that you are living with your next of kin in unimagined shame. Oedipus. Do you think you can say such things and never smart for it? Tiresias. Yes, if there be strength in truth.
Adjective
Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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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.
Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.
Usage- Informal
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).
Usage- In compounds
- often
- Antonyms
- Examples
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smart car
smartcard
More examples (2)
smartphone
“Imagine this,” says an advertising consultant named Barry Lowenthal. “I’m a smart toaster, and I’m collecting data on how many times the toaster is used.”
Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.
- Examples
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a smart outfit
You look smart in that business suit.
Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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He became tired of his girlfriend's smart remarks.
Don't get smart with me!
More examples (3)
Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart?
I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart, when my ill genius, who I verily believed inspired him purely for my destruction, suggested to him such a reply
The clerk gave Mr. Carlyle a knowing look, as of one smart man who will be appreciated by another.
Sudden and intense.
- Examples
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smart skirmishes, in which many fell
More examples (1)
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.
- Examples
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How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience.
Sharp; keen; poignant.
- Examples
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a smart pain
Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.
Usage- Southern-US
- Dated
- Examples
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He raised his voice; it hurt her feelings right smart.
That cast on his leg chaffs him right smart.
Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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The stars shine smarter.
Pretentious; showy; spruce.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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a smart gown
Brisk; fresh.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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a smart breeze
Hard-working.
Usage- Appalachia
Noun
A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
- Examples
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[…] the bodie had no smart / Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell stings.
If chance some Shepherd with a distant Dart / The Savage wound, he rowzes at the Smart, / He foams, he roars […]
More examples (2)
Of course Tommy came to grief, tumbled upon a hornets’ nest and got stung; but being used to woe, he bore the smart manfully […]
The smart of his wounded hand woke Scobie at two in the morning.
Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
- Examples
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Mishaps are maistred by aduice discrete, / And counsell mitigates the greatest smart; / Found neuer help, who neuer would his hurts impart.
More examples (3)
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.
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.
[…] Bertrand said, ‘No, you bloody idiot, do you think I drink this? I want mineral water.’ The girl recoiled for just a second at the smart of his tone […] and then apologized with steely insincerity.
A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
Usage- Dated
- Slang
- Examples
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[…] I reſolved to quit all further Converſation vvith Beaus and Smarts of all kinds, […]
A fan of professional wrestling who is aware of kayfabe and the scripted nature of the competition.
- Antonyms
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.”
Adjective
showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
- Antonyms
elegant and stylish
- Examples
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chic elegance
a smart new dress
More examples (1)
a suit of voguish cut
characterized by quickness and ease in learning
- Synonyms
- Examples
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some children are brighter in one subject than another
smart children talk earlier than the average
improperly forward or bold
- Examples
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don't be fresh with me
impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup
More examples (2)
an impudent boy given to insulting strangers
Don't get wise with me!
painfully severe
- Examples
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he gave the dog a smart blow
quick and brisk
- Examples
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I gave him a smart salute
we walked at a smart pace
capable of independent and apparently intelligent action
- Examples
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smart weapons
Noun
a kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore
Verb
be the source of pain
- Broader terms