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.