SMART


Meaning of SMART in English

I. smart 1 S2 W2 /smɑːt $ smɑːrt/ BrE AmE adjective ( comparative smarter , superlative smartest )

[ Language: Old English ; Origin: smeart ]

1 . INTELLIGENT especially American English intelligent or sensible SYN clever OPP stupid :

The smart kids get good grades and go off to college.

I was smart enough to wait for a week.

His decision to become a director was a smart move (=sensible thing to do) .

2 . DISRESPECTFUL trying to seem clever in a disrespectful way:

Don’t get smart with me, young man.

He made some smart remark.

3 . NEAT British English

a) a smart person is wearing neat attractive clothes and has a generally tidy appearance SYN sharp American English OPP scruffy :

You’re looking very smart.

b) smart clothes, buildings etc are clean, tidy, and attractive SYN sharp American English :

a smart black suit

smart new offices

4 . FASHIONABLE British English fashionable or used by fashionable people:

one of Bonn’s smartest restaurants

5 . TECHNOLOGY smart machines, weapons, materials etc are controlled by computers and are designed to react in a suitable way depending on the situation ⇨ smart bomb :

smart weapons

6 . the smart money is on somebody/something used to say that a particular person or thing is likely to do something or be successful

7 . QUICK British English a smart movement is done quickly, especially with force:

a smart blow on the head

She set off at a smart pace (=fairly fast) .

—smartly adverb :

a smartly dressed young man

He turned smartly and walked away.

—smartness noun [uncountable]

II. smart 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive]

1 . to be upset because someone has hurt your feelings or offended you

smart from

She was still smarting from the insult.

2 . if a part of your body smarts, it hurts with a stinging pain:

My eyes were smarting with the smoke.

smart off phrasal verb American English informal

to make funny rude remarks

• • •

THESAURUS

■ when part of your body feels painful

▪ hurt if part of your body hurts, it feels painful:

My chest hurts when I cough.

▪ ache to hurt with a continuous pain:

I’d been walking all day and my legs were really aching.

▪ throb to feel a bad pain that comes and goes again in a regular and continuous way:

Lou had a terrible headache and his whole head seemed to be throbbing.

▪ sting to feel a sharp pain, or to make someone feel this, especially in your eyes, throat, or skin:

My throat stings every time I swallow.

|

This injection may sting a little.

▪ smart to hurt with a sudden sharp pain – used especially about your eyes, or your skin where something has hit you:

Her eyes were smarting from the thick smoke.

|

Jackson’s face was still smarting from the punch.

▪ burn to feel very hot and painful or uncomfortable:

Be careful because this chemical will make your skin burn.

|

His eyes were burning because of the gas.

▪ pinch if something you are wearing pinches you, it is too tight and presses painfully on your skin:

The shirt was a bit too small and it was pinching my neck.

▪ something is killing me spoken informal used when something feels very painful:

My legs are killing me.

|

These shoes are killing me.

▪ a bad back/leg/arm etc if you have a bad back/leg/arm etc, it feels painful:

He’s off work with a bad back.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.