smarm
Americannoun
verb
-
to flatten (the hair, etc) with cream or grease
-
to ingratiate oneself (with)
noun
Etymology
Origin of smarm
First recorded in 1935–40; back formation from smarmy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Oliver brings in Matthew Broderick, playing himself with exaggerated smarm, who effortlessly breezes through the patter song.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2024
This is perhaps a land speed record in both smarm and bad faith.
From Salon ● Nov. 17, 2021
One of Novak’s conversational charms is slipping in and out of the vernacular modes that populate contemporary life: ad speak, online feminist smarm, college-brochure meritocratese.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
Maybe it’s the exhausting smarm, the squirrelly ambition, the hollow theatrics.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2021
I suppose you know, Jean—I don't want to be discouraging—that you will get very little gratitude, that the people you try to help will smarm to your face and blackguard you behind your back?
From Penny Plain by Douglas, O.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
