street smarts
plural noun Informal.
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.
RELATED CONTENT
Fast and the Furious – From Scottish Hootenanies to Street Racing
The eighth installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise was released in April 2017, and their continued box office success gives moviegoers and word-lovers something to cheer about. Beyond the stunning action sequences, though, let’s take a moment to appreciate the movie’s title, The Fate of the Furious, which sounds awesome. That probably has something to do with its alliteration, a figure of speech in …
READ MORE
Around the Web: Autocorrect and Common Street Names
A linguistic take on how we name bands today at the Morning News. Brush up on the history of autocorrect from Wired. Also, here’s a discussion of the word “uber” over time from the Boston Globe. Also from the Globe, English is a language exporter. Japanese has a word for “book hoarder” in LA Times’ Jacket Copy. What language should you learn according to the …
READ MORE
Origin of street smarts
First recorded in 1970–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019