smart set

American  

noun

1. sophisticated, fashionable people as a group.

   a shop catering to the smart set.

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smart set British  

noun

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

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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]

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Etymology

Origin of smart set

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smart set

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

As time went on, though, “Abie’s Irish Rose” lived long enough to generate what Schildcrout called “a begrudging respect” for the play among the smart set.

From New York Times ● May 11, 2022

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

"Money to keep a nice home and go about a bit among the smart set of the town—isn't that success?" she continued.

From The Call of the Town A Tale of Literary Life by Sir John Alexander Hammerton

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