smarten

play

verb smart·en \ ˈsmär-tᵊn \

Definition of smarten

smartened; smartening play \ˈsmärt-niŋ, ˈsmär-tᵊn-iŋ\

transitive verb

:to make smart or smarter; especially :spruce —usually used with up

intransitive verb

:to smarten oneself —used with up

See smarten defined for English-language learners

See smarten defined for kids

Recent Examples of smarten from the Web

Smarten up, Senators Tom Carper (Democrat of Delaware), Mike Crapo (Republican, Idaho), Angus King (Independent, Maine), Sherrod Brown (Democrat, Ohio) and Ron Johnson (Republican, Wisconsin).

— guy trebay, New York Times, "From President Macron, a Lesson in Style," 2 Aug. 2017
Hotels are smartening up in new ways, with thought-provoking experiences for guests that make a more lasting impression.

— kate springer, CNN, "These hotels want to boost your IQ," 9 May 2017
Or at least, smarten up the house with some new gadgets to solve this issue.

— tom chiarella, Popular Mechanics, "The Well-Monitored Home," 28 Apr. 2017
Released this week, Planets is One Ring Zero’s latest attempt to smarten up traditional pop using unconventional sonics and subjects.

— scott thill, WIRED, "One Ring Zero Reboots Holst’s Planets, Keeps Pluto in Mix," 3 Sep. 2010

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