/ smɑːt; NAmE smɑːrt/ adjective , verb
■ adjective
( smart·er , smart·est )
CLEAN / NEAT
1.
( especially BrE ) ( of people ) looking clean and neat; well dressed in fashionable and/or formal clothes :
You look very smart in that suit.
2.
( especially BrE ) ( of clothes, etc. ) clean, neat and looking new and attractive :
They were wearing their smartest clothes.
INTELLIGENT
3.
( especially NAmE ) intelligent :
She's smarter than her brother.
That was a smart career move .
OK, I admit it was not the smartest thing I ever did (= it was a stupid thing to do) .
➡ note at intelligent
FASHIONABLE
4.
( especially BrE ) connected with fashionable rich people :
smart restaurants
She mixes with the smart set .
QUICK
5.
( of a movement, etc. ) quick and usually done with force
SYN brisk :
He was struck with a smart crack on the head.
We set off at a smart pace.
COMPUTER-CONTROLLED
6.
( of a device, especially of a weapon / bomb ) controlled by a computer, so that it appears to act in an intelligent way :
smart bombs
This smart washing machine will dispense an optimal amount of water for the load.
► smart·ly adverb ( especially BrE ):
smartly dressed
He ran off pretty smartly (= quickly and suddenly) .
► smart·ness noun [ U ]
■ verb [ v ]
1.
~ (from sth) to feel a sharp stinging pain in a part of your body :
His eyes were smarting from the smoke.
2.
~ (from / over sth) to feel upset about a criticism, failure, etc. :
They are still smarting from the 4–0 defeat last week.
—see also smarts
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English smeortan (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to German schmerzen ; the adjective is related to the verb, the original sense ( late Old English ) being causing sharp pain ; from this arose keen, brisk , which led to the current senses of mentally sharp and neat in a brisk, sharp style .