smarty-pants

American  

[smahr-tee-pants] / ˈsmɑr tiˌpænts /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. smart aleck.

   He's just a smarty-pants, showing off for some girls.

2. a smart person.

   My kid is a super smarty-pants who continues to get 4s on her state exams.

3. (used as a mildly abusive term of address or to refer to someone with contempt).

   Who invited that smarty-pants--everyone hates her!

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smarty-pants British  

/ ˈsmɑːtɪˌbuːts, ˈsmɑːtɪˌpænts /

noun

1. informal (functioning as singular) a would-be clever person

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Etymology

Origin of smarty-pants

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Those who are traditional allies should sit down, talk to each other, and arrive at a minimum platform which will then allow the big smarty-pants and big shots in the field of AI and everything that goes with it—software and hardware included—to actually deploy and operate in a continent like Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Oh, she’s a smarty-pants, now, isn’t she?”

From Literature

I folded my hands together on top of my desk and nodded toward my bedroom door, hoping Miss Smarty-Pants could take a hint.

From Literature

Those smarty-pants Yippies understood that.

From Salon

Anger — fueled by the cruelty of politics, by the indignities of capitalism, by Costello’s somewhat creepy ideas about women — was no impediment to productivity as punk’s smarty-pants polemicist banged out the nearly five dozen songs found on his first four studio albums.

From Los Angeles Times