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• smart ass
  smart ass

  noun

  a wise guy; know-it-all.
• smart-ass
  smart-ass

  adjective

  Also smart-assed, smartassed characteristic of a smart ass or wise guy.

smart ass

¹ American  

Also smartass

noun

Slang: Sometimes Vulgar.

1. a wise guy; know-it-all.

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smart-ass ² American  

[smahrt-as] / ˈsmɑrtˌæs /

adjective

1. Also smart-assed, smartassed characteristic of a smart ass or wise guy.

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noun

• smart-asses
  plural

1. smart ass.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• smart-asses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of smart ass¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Origin of smart-ass²

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smart ass smart-ass smart-asses

And my smart ass would tell him that he wasn’t going to drop 81 points within the first 10 minutes of the game.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2020

“My smart ass would tell him,” Vanessa Bryant said, “that he wasn’t going to drop 81 points within the first 10 minutes of the game.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2020

“Being the rather smart ass that I was, I said Star Wars. She said: ‘Star Wars, hmm, that’s a great place to start.’

From The Guardian ● Feb. 11, 2020

So when he arrived halfway through last night’s Emmy Awards to inject some much-needed smart ass humor into what was otherwise a three-hour layover of recycled Matthew McConaughey jokes, why wouldn’t we be excited?

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2014

Look, sure we all love a smart ass, Han was always cooler than Luke, Logan will always be cooler than Cyclops etc etc etc and so it goes.

From Time ● May 3, 2013

I think there was one, “You get a free coffin with every patient” or something — smart-ass cutting remarks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2022

The 58-year-old Pitt, Collin stressed, was "badly miscast" as the movie's "motor-mouthing smart-ass" leading man.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2022

In the first, an off-screen voice intones, “The devil of Hell’s Kitchen. The smart-ass detective. The righteous ex-con. And the kid with the glowing fist. The war for New York is here.”

From Salon ● May 3, 2017

One smart-ass even tweeted at Cook in Portuguese, like he's got time to learn that right now.

From The Verge ● Feb. 8, 2016

These survive in the Latin proverb Mali corvi malum ovum—an immemorial testament to the discovery that it is possible to be too much of a smart-ass.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Lucas was blasted by everyone from smart-asses in Ain’t It Cool News’ comments section to Red Letter Media’s Mr. Plinkett, who showed, excruciatingly and shot by shot, how Lucas had screwed up.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 4, 2016