street smarts

American  

plural noun

Informal.

1. shrewd awareness of how to survive or succeed in any situation, especially as a result of living or working in a difficult environment, as a city ghetto neighborhood.

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Etymology

Origin of street smarts

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

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

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

But what he lacks in book learning he’s more than made up for in wisdom, humanity and street smarts.

From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2023

For all of her street smarts, siphoning gas is something she’s clearly never done, and for all of Kelton’s survival skills, he’s useless in this particular pinch.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman