street smarts
Americanplural noun
Etymology
Origin of street smarts
First recorded in 1970–75
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.
It’s essentially the difference between book smarts and street smarts.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 28, 2026
Common sense, street smarts, the ability to communicate with people and have people respect you and like you and want to work with you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
It appears that, like many who end up in the big city, some fence lizards develop street smarts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2025
Mr Erdogan entered the contest with many advantages: his street smarts, his common touch, and his control of 90% of the media here.
From BBC ● May 28, 2023
Dasch detected a shrewdness in Haupt, and street smarts.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
