smart aleck

smart al·eck | \ ˈsmärt-ˌa-lik

How to pronounce smart aleck (audio)

, -ˌe- \

variants: or less commonly smart alec

Definition of smart aleck

: an obnoxiously conceited and self-assertive person with pretensions to smartness or cleverness

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Examples of smart aleck in a Sentence

some smart aleck in the audience kept shouting clever insults at the nervous speaker

Recent Examples on the Web This is not due to excessive anesthesia, smart alecks. — Heather Wilhelm, National Review, "Be Yourself, the Screen Commanded," 25 July 2019 Jay Ryan is Ben Hanscom, James Ransone is hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak, and Bill Hader plays smart aleck Richie Tozier. — Anthony Breznican, EW.com, "It: Chapter Two is taking Pennywise to San Diego Comic-Con," 5 June 2019 Late-night smart aleck Stephen Colbert is an executive producer of the 10-episode series. — Chuck Barney, Detroit Free Press, "TV highlights for the week of Feb. 11-17," 10 Feb. 2018 Madigan is like a smart aleck sister, or a whip-smart, never-shy co-worker. — Michael K. Mcintyre, cleveland.com, "Kathleen Madigan, performing here next week, says we're governed by people so old, they're 'a Florida bridge club'," 25 Jan. 2018 Here’s the staggering news about this Red Sox cheating story, as a million smart alecks have already pointed out: Hey, the Apple Watch can do something! — Jason Gay, WSJ, "Liar, Liar, Red Sox on Fire?," 6 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'smart aleck.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Smart aleck.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aleck. Accessed 6 December 2019.

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