Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

smart set

American  

noun

  1. sophisticated, fashionable people as a group.

    a shop catering to the smart set.
smart set British  

noun

  1. (functioning as singular or plural) fashionable sophisticated people considered as a group

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
smart set Idioms  

  1. A fashionable social group, as in This restaurant has been discovered by the smart set. This idiom may be obsolescent. [Late 1800s]

Etymology

Origin of smart set

First recorded in 1885–90

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.

She added that the department has "made a smart set of decisions but it is part of an overall package".

From BBC • Oct. 28, 2025

The larger-than-life 70-year-old is an Oxford graduate, was part of London's smart set in the late 1970s and later led cricket-mad Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup.

From Reuters • May 22, 2023

David Zinn contributes a smart set design, with a central, rounded brick apartment building whose walls part to reveal street scenes, hotel suites and showgirl-filled stages.

From Washington Post • Apr. 24, 2022

While his intelligence and good looks allowed him entry into the smart set, it proved impossible to secure a place in the fashionable crowd in his poor circumstances.

From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2019

They also found the best seats in the lecture-hall occupied by the smart set in full evening-dress, who talked almost as much and as loudly as did Professor Peterkin.

From The Inventions of the Idiot by Bangs, John Kendrick

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.