smarty-pants

noun

ˈsmär-tē-ˌpan(t)s 

plural smarty-pants

informal

: smart aleck, know-it-all

"If you give people the impression you're a smarty-pants, that's no good for sure."

—Al Gore

Choosing books for picky friends can be humbling. There's always one smarty-pants who has read not only the gift book but everything else in the author's oeuvre.

—Marilyn Stasio

Even the smartest of smarty-pants couldn't have answered all four of those "gotcha" foreign-policy questions.

—Jonathan Alter

smarty-pants adjective

… a veneer of smarty-pants condescension.

—Ron Powers

Every musical genre has its smarty-pants jokesters, and alternative rock is no exception.

—Entertainment Weekly

Word History

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for smarty-pants

• confidants
• sycophants
• underpants
• ants
• aunts
• chants
• grants
• krantz
• lants
• pants
• plants
• rants