smart
verb (used without object)
to be a source of sharp, local, and usually superficial pain, as a wound.
smart
American
[smahrt]
/ smɑrt /
verb (used without object)
-
smarts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smarted,
past participle, past
-
smarting
present participle
-
to be a source of sharp, local, and usually superficial pain, as a wound.
-
to be the cause of a sharp, stinging pain, as an irritating application, a blow, etc.
-
to feel a sharp, stinging pain, as in a wound.
-
to suffer keenly from wounded feelings.
She smarted under their criticism.
-
to feel shame or remorse or to suffer in punishment or in return for something.
verb (used with object)
-
smarts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smarted,
past participle, past
-
smarting
present participle
adjective
-
smarter,
comparative
-
smartest
superlative
-
quick or prompt in action, as persons.
-
having or showing quick intelligence or ready mental capability.
a smart student.
- Antonyms:
- stupid
-
shrewd or sharp, as a person in dealing with others or as in business dealings.
a smart businessman.
-
clever, witty, or readily effective, as a speaker, speech, rejoinder, etc.
-
dashingly or impressively neat or trim in appearance, as persons, dress, etc.
- Synonyms:
- showy, pretentious, spruce
-
socially elegant; sophisticated or fashionable.
the smart crowd.
- Synonyms:
- chic
-
saucy; pert.
smart remarks.
-
sharply brisk, vigorous, or active.
to walk with smart steps.
- Synonyms:
- energetic
-
sharply severe, as a blow, stroke, etc.
-
sharp or keen.
a smart pain.
- Synonyms:
- penetrating, poignant
-
Digital Technology.
-
(of a machine, system, etc.) equipped with electronic control mechanisms, software programs, etc., and capable of remote, automated, and seemingly intelligent operation.
smart copiers;
smart weapons;
a smart thermostat.
-
equipped with microprocessors, as for data processing, internet access, etc. (usually used in combination).
a smartphone;
a smartwatch.
-
-
having properties that can be changed in response to stimuli or environmental conditions; self-regulating.
smart fabrics that respond to temperature or light.
-
Older Use. considerable; fairly large.
adverb
noun
-
a sharp local pain, usually superficial, as from a wound, blow, or sting.
-
keen mental suffering, as from wounded feelings, affliction, grievous loss, etc.
-
Slang. smarts, intelligence; common sense.
He never had the smarts to use his opportunities.
smart
1
British
/ smɑːt /
adjective
-
astute, as in business; clever or bright
-
quick, witty, and often impertinent in speech
a smart talker
-
fashionable; chic
a smart hotel
-
well-kept; neat
-
causing a sharp stinging pain
-
vigorous or brisk
-
dialect considerable or numerous
a smart price
-
(of systems) operating as if by human intelligence by using automatic computer control
-
(of a projectile or bomb) containing a device that allows it to be guided to its target
verb
-
to feel, cause, or be the source of a sharp stinging physical pain or keen mental distress
a nettle sting smarts
he smarted under their abuse
-
(often foll by for) to suffer a harsh penalty
noun
adverb
Smart
2
British
/ smɑːt /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
smartnessnoun
-
supersmartnessnoun
-
smartishadjective
-
supersmartadjective
-
ultrasmartadjective
-
unsmartadjective
-
unsmartingadjective
-
smartinglyadverb
-
smartlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
smartsimple
-
smartssimple
-
have smartedperfect
-
has smartedperfect
-
am smartingprogressive
-
are smartingprogressive
-
is smartingprogressive
-
have been smartingperfect progressive
-
has been smartingperfect progressive
Past
-
smartedsimple
-
had smartedperfect
-
was smartingprogressive
-
were smartingprogressive
-
had been smartingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of smart
First recorded before 1050; Middle English (verb) smerten, Old English -smeortan (only in the compound fyrsmeortende “painful like fire”), cognate with Old High German smerzan ( German schmerzen ); (adjective) Middle English smerte, smart “quick, prompt, sharp,” originally, “biting, smarting,” late Old English smearte, akin to the verb; (adverb and noun) Middle English smerte, derivative of the adjective
Explanation
Although smart is most often used to describe someone who is intelligent, you can also call someone a smart, chic dresser or a smart, sassy wisecracker. Smart often implies something good, but not always. If someone cautions you, "Don't be smart with me!" — they are demanding that you stop acting so bold and rude. As a verb, if something smarts, then it hurts. If your knee smarts, then you probably whacked it. However, if someone says that you are a smart dresser or a smart thinker, you can take those comments as compliments.
Vocabulary lists containing smart
The Sound and the Fury
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Novel Study: The Outsiders, Chapters 1–5
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Words to Describe a Teacher
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Like other smart glasses, Specs will use AI to let people see digital elements overlaid onto the world.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Whenever he seems confused, I’m delighted; it’s reassuring to see someone so smart still struggle to fathom this thing of ours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Reconsider your “smart” home: Cameras are becoming more and more common in home appliances, including in smart ovens, refrigerators, doorbells, and toothbrushes—even as people decry surveillance measures in public.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026
“There’s the opportunity theoretically, but it’s really more about how smart they are on the draft picks, how smart they are on building the team.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
“I’m glad you’ll be modeling in the show again. I think that was a smart move on my part to suggest you, don’t you agree?”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Airlines for America, an industry trade group, said the Smart tool has the potential to bolster safety, increase capacity and improve efficiency that will benefit travelers and shippers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The firm Air Space Intelligence won a $875 million, 12-year government contract earlier this year to build out Smart and a related system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Jean Smart was expected to tie a bow on her “Hacks” run with her eighth win, et voilà.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
Elsewhere, Jean Smart won best comedy actress for her role in the fifth and final series of Hacks.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
There are three Smart Aids in Englewood, the small, somnolent beach town where I live.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
“Fast progress today means even faster progress tomorrow, driven by tomorrow’s even smarter AIs. The progress would enter a feedback loop called ‘recursive self-improvement.’”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
As machines get smarter, kids are getting dumber.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Two employees from Anthropic's safety team have resigned in the last two weeks, external saying humanity may not survive the race among AI companies to develop machines that are smarter than humans.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Maybe someone smarter or more charismatic than Erika Kirk would have been able to navigate these contradictions.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
“But I believe that she’s smarter than that,” he says.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
Video creator Yotam Katzor, 32, worried about what would happen when humans were no longer the smartest thing on Earth.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Superintelligence is the point at which AI will have surpassed even the smartest humans across several domains.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
Hill added that Scott became known as “aloof” and wanting to be “the smartest person in the room.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
It is the size of a pin head – yet in many ways - more efficient than a supercomputer and able to outsmart the smartest AI.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Fortunately, as the smartest human computer out of all of us, Dorothy Vaughan had been thinking ahead.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
New Zealand's smarts initially defused the fire and fury inside the cauldron, however.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Americans are abandoning the belief that smarts and effort are the best ways to get ahead in life, according to new research, underscoring the pessimism many people have about their chances at financial success.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
He first impressed Sayre as a law clerk 20 years ago for his smarts and “because I spoke Spanish and he didn’t know many people of Middle Eastern heritage who did.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
The new Siri is powered by Apple Intelligence, which runs on Apple Foundational Models, which tap in to Google’s Gemini smarts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
I'm starting to wonder when the smarts are going to kick in.
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
"The media world is unrecognisable from the one he stepped into seventy years ago and the decision to scrap plans to reunite his empire must have smarted."
From Reuters ● Sep. 21, 2023
There was much speculation about his state of mind, whether the scars of the first defeat still smarted.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2023
Turks smarted at the sight of Russians casually snapping up products most local people would struggle to afford.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
It must have smarted that he was the only one of the "I Love Lucy" four principals not nominated for an acting Emmy for the show.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2022
He still smarted, more from Ellidyr’s words than from the drubbing; and he was hardly pleased that Eilonwy had seen him sprawled at the feet of the arrogant Prince.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
Drake is smarting, and he spreads that hurt across more than an hour in the trilogy’s marquee album “Iceman.”
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
England, without a Six Nations title since 2020, will now face a Scotland side smarting from an 18-15 opening loss to Italy in Rome.
From Barron's ● Feb. 7, 2026
Derek Weeks started his search about six months ago, still smarting from last Christmas when he couldn’t secure a reindeer to go with his Santa.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
He is still smarting about the Dodgers’ response, adding “people are still talking about all of that.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
I sort of hobbled toward Gary Drake, my bumbone smarting.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
