smarty-pants

[ smahr-tee-pants ]

/ ˈsmɑr tiˌpænts /

Informal

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See synonyms for smarty-pants on Thesaurus.com

noun (used with a singular verb)

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

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

(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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Origin of smarty-pants

First recorded in 1915–20

Words nearby smarty-pants

smartwatch, smart weapons, smartweed, smart wool, smarty, smarty-pants, smash, smash-and-grab, smashed, smasher, smash hit

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use smarty-pants in a sentence

So here I am in my requisite Lululemon pants, grunting along to an old hip-hop song at a most ungodly hour.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He wore white gloves, a dignified long black coat, and matching pants and vest, and he carried a dark walking stick.
The Black Man Who Replaced Jefferson Davis in the Senate|Philip Dray|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
If you Google “Muslim Christmas tree star” you will see a list of right-wing websites wetting their pants over this.
Why Muslims Love Jesus Too|Dean Obeidallah|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Plaza Hotel cooked a fancy-pants latke with red wine braised oxtail, horseradish sunchoke cream, and crispy kale.
I Ate Potato Pancakes Til I Plotzed|Emily Shire|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Shirtless bros with pillowy lips and cargo pants pulled down to expose tufts of pubic hair.
Abercrombie & Ditch: The Fall of the House of Tween|Lizzie Crocker|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You're ridin' game in a tough place, as any man has to do who starts with only his pants and his head on.
You Never Know Your Luck, Complete|Gilbert Parker
He is an old, grizzled man dressed in dungaree pants, a sweater, and a woolen cap with ear flaps.
Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays|Various
He wears the same corduroy pants that Uncle Ben gave him on his twenty-first birthday.
David Lannarck, Midget|George S. Harney
He was of middle age, black as anthracite coal, bald-headed, (p. 226) and was dressed in pants and coat made of old sailcloth.
The Boys of '61|Charles Carleton Coffin.
He was dressed in pants made of old sailcloth, and the tattered cast-off blouse of a Union soldier.
The Boys of '61|Charles Carleton Coffin.

British Dictionary definitions for smarty-pants

smarty-pants

smarty-boots (ˈsmɑːtɪˌbuːts)

/ (ˈsmɑːtɪˌpænts) /

noun

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

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

smarty-pants

Origin of smarty-pants

Words nearby smarty-pants

Words related to smarty-pants

How to use smarty-pants in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for smarty-pants

smarty-boots (ˈsmɑːtɪˌbuːts)