smart-alecky

adjective

smart-al·​ecky

-kē, 

-ki

variants or smart-aleck or less commonly smart-alec

: like, typical of, or being a smart aleck : marked by cockiness and conceit : concerned with or striving for smartness and cleverness for their own sake or at the expense of seriousness and responsibility

had never talked that way to the smart-aleck kid before

—J. H. Reese

the smart-aleck way you were talking

—Alexander Saxton

dismayingly intelligent and a shade smart-alecky

—Jean Stafford

five smart-alecky collegians who conspired to rob the till

—Bennett Cerf

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

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