smart

adjective \ ˈsmärt \

Definition of smart

1 :making one smart :causing a sharp stinging

2 :marked by often sharp forceful activity or vigorous strength

a smart pull of the starter cord

3 :brisk, spirited

a smart pace

4 a :mentally alert :bright

b :knowledgeable

c :shrewd

a smart investment

5 a :witty, clever

a smart sitcom

b :pert, saucy

don't get smart with me

6 a :neat, trim

soldiers in smart uniforms

b :stylish or elegant in dress or appearance

c (1) :appealing to sophisticated tastes

(2) :characteristic of or patronized by fashionable society

7 a :being a guided missile

a laser-guided smart bomb

b :operating by automation

a smart machine tool

c :intelligent 3

—

smartly

adverb

—

smartness

noun

See smart defined for English-language learners

Examples of smart in a Sentence

Poodles are said to be smart dogs.
That was a smart investment.
He gave her a smart answer.

Recent Examples of smart from the Web

As of this writing, Amazon is listing the smart home hub's next availability at September 4.

— don reisinger, Fortune, "Amazon Echo Sells Out Amid Refresh Speculation," 30 Aug. 2017
This week, Fitbit announced its first-ever smart watch, the Fitbit Ionic, which is set to launch sometime in October.

— rachel jacoby zoldan, SELF, "The New Fitbit Ionic Smart Watch Is Smart as Hell," 30 Aug. 2017
Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know?

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "Hurricane Harvey and the inevitable question of climate change," 29 Aug. 2017
Enhanced walkability and good infrastructure are a must for smart growth success and to help overcome resistance to living in high-density, mixed-use areas.

— Alaska Dispatch News, "Anchorage will require flexible, creative housing solutions as it ages," 26 Aug. 2017
Leave a Note The way to do this smartest of bars at this finest of London’s hotels is to dress up, go pre-dinner and then proceed to forget about dinner altogether.

— Condé Nast Traveler, "Connaught Bar," 25 Aug. 2017
And with smart phones, updating a fantasy lineup is almost as easy as sending a text message.

— nikki delamotte, cleveland.com, "Cleveland's CHA Spirits & Pizza Kitchen moving from Battery Park to Ohio City," 21 Aug. 2017
The women that are in my community are unbelievably smart and talented, passionate, goal-oriented, ambitious, hilarious.

— emma green, The Atlantic, "What Obligation Do White Christian Women Have to Speak Out About Politics?," 20 Aug. 2017
Our plan for Passyunk Productions is to make an impact in the film & tv world by leveraging our collective resources, telling great stories and creating smart programming told from a unique perspective.

— andy gensler, Billboard, "The Roots' Questlove and Black Thought On Their 'Rap Yearbook' Docu-Series: Q&A," 15 Aug. 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of smart

Middle English smert causing pain, from Old English smeart; akin to Old English smeortan

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

smart Synonyms

Synonyms

dapper, natty, sharp, snappy, spruce

Antonyms

disheveled (or dishevelled), frowsy (or frowzy), sloppy, slovenly, unkempt

Related Words

dolled up, dressy, elegant, formal, spiffed-up; orderly, tidy; à la mode (also a la mode), chic, fashionable, in, modish, stylish; careful, fastidious, fussy, meticulous; combed, groomed; clean, immaculate, pristine, spotless, squeaky-clean

Near Antonyms

messy, mussed, rumpled, uncombed, untidy, wrinkled; shabby, sleazy; dingy, dirty, filthy, foul, grimy, grubby, nasty, scroungy, scrubby, scruffy, scuzzy [slang], smirched, soiled, spotted, stained, sullied, unclean; dowdy, inelegant, unfashionable, unstylish

smart

verb

Definition of smart

intransitive verb

1 :to cause or be the cause or seat of a sharp stinging pain; also :to feel or have such a pain

2 a :to feel or endure distress, remorse, or embarrassment

smarting from wounded vanity
—W. L. Shirer

b :to pay a heavy or stinging penalty

would have to smart for this foolishness

See smart defined for English-language learners

See smart defined for kids

Examples of smart in a Sentence

Her eyes were smarting from the smoke.
the injection only smarted for a moment

Recent Examples of smart from the Web

Don’t count out Muskego, which played many juniors last season, or Arrowhead, which is probably smarting after last year’s 5-5 mark.

— mark stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Prep football preview: A look at the Milwaukee-area conferences," 16 Aug. 2017
Still smarting from Monday’s forced statement condemning neo-Nazis, Klansmen and white supremacists, Trump shoved a finger into the gaping wound of race relations in America.

— zeke j miller, Time, "How President Trump Failed His Biggest Leadership Test Yet," 15 Aug. 2017
Her objections to smart meters apparently led to water being turned off at the home in Warren in the fall of 2012, as noted in a 2015 unpublished opinion by the state Court of Appeals.

— christina hall, Detroit Free Press, "Karen Spranger: Agent of change or simply unqualified to hold Macomb clerk's job?," 10 Aug. 2017
Losing can lead to winning, which eventually leads to smart and planned losing, which leads to winning again.

— doug lesmerises, cleveland.com, "Cavs, Indians and Browns, by contending or tanking, make Cleveland a perfect sports city: Doug Lesmerises," 17 July 2017
But the move has also appeared to irk a lot of his fans, many of whom are still smarting from an earlier Jay-Z initiative: pulling all of his albums from Tidal’s competitor, industry leader Spotify, in April.

— randall roberts, latimes.com, "Jay-Z brings new Sprint-endorsed album '4:44' to Tidal and reignites debate over exclusivity," 19 June 2017
The zero-day flaw and its exploitation is unfortunate, and Microsoft is likely smarting from government calls for people to stop using Internet Explorer.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "Microsoft’s decision to patch Windows XP is a mistake," 14 June 2017
Labour voters, many of them young, don’t remember the socialist experiments of 1970s but are still smarting from the financial crisis.

— therese raphael, The Denver Post, "Theresa May’s biggest mistake," 9 June 2017
With defenseman Ron Hainsey smarting from a puck that Ovechkin had just blasted into his chest, No.

— alex prewitt, SI.com, "Zombie Capitals aren't dead yet in conference semifinals vs. Pittsburgh," 7 May 2017

Origin and Etymology of smart

Middle English smerten, from Old English smeortan; akin to Old High German smerzan to pain

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

smart Synonyms

Synonyms

ache, pain, hurt

Related Words

bite, bleed, burn, chafe, cramp, fester, itch, nag, pinch, pound, rack, sting, swell, throb, tingle, twinge; agonize, anguish, suffer; afflict, harrow, torment, torture

smart

noun

Definition of smart

1 :a smarting pain; especially :a stinging local pain

2 :poignant grief or remorse

was not the sort to get over smarts
—Sir Winston Churchill

3 smarts plural, slang :intelligence, know-how

Examples of smart in a Sentence

the toddler was whining over the smart from the cut
she had the smarts to start college at age 16, but perhaps not the emotional maturity

Recent Examples of smart from the Web

The Citadel's archmaesters may have more book smarts, but Sam's real-life experience with White Walkers leaves him exasperated when his superiors decide against taking action.

— bill keveney, USA TODAY, "John Bradley's Sam Tarly proves a different kind of hero on HBO's 'Game of Thrones'," 13 Aug. 2017
Will Trump have the smarts and guts to do the right thing?

— trudy rubin, Philly.com, "To save Afghanistan, Trump needs new strategy toward terrorist-enabler Pakistan | Trudy Rubin," 12 Aug. 2017
The first statement reflects Trump’s blustery confidence that any problem can succumb to his smarts—a view not chastened by six months of domestic legislative failure.

— eliot a. cohen, The Atlantic, "America Is Not Ready for a War in North Korea," 9 Aug. 2017
Test your geography smarts with this quiz: Q: What nations border France?

— seattle times staff, The Seattle Times, "Seattle Times geography quiz: What nations border France?," 4 Aug. 2017
But his smarts and savvy understanding of how international audiences viewed the ANC proved invaluable for their liberation struggle.

— laura seay, Washington Post, "Learning from Three African presidents," 4 Aug. 2017
During the last quarter of a century, these defensive playmakers impacted Friday nights in Alabama high school football with their speed, their strength, their smarts.

— josh bean, AL.com, "SEC schools keep chasing 4-star Sidney Lanier DL Alfred Thomas," 4 Aug. 2017
Sater was skilled at deciphering financial fraud, and as is often the case, the same things that made him a successful criminal — his ingratiating charm, his street smarts, his ability to see all the angles — made him a very useful government asset.

— andrew rice, Daily Intelligencer, "The Original Russia Connection," 3 Aug. 2017
Sean Payton compared Kamara’s smarts for offensive concepts to Faulk.

— larry holder, NOLA.com, "5 Saints offensive observations from Day 4 of training camp," 30 July 2017

First Known Use of smart

13th century

smart Synonyms

Synonyms

ache, pang, prick, shoot, pain, sting, stitch, throe, tingle, twinge

Related Words

discomfort, distress, soreness, tenderness; affliction, agony, anguish, misery, sufferance, suffering, torment, torture; inflammation, sore, swelling; damage, detriment, harm, hurt, injury; backache, bellyache, charley horse, colic, complaint, earache, gripe, headache, stomachache, toothache

Near Antonyms

comfort, ease, easiness

smart

adverb

Definition of smart

:in a smart manner :smartly

See smart defined for English-language learners

Examples of smart in a Sentence

He plays smart and the fans appreciate that.
I dress smarter than she does.
Play it smart during the contract negotiations and you'll get more vacation time.

Recent Examples of smart from the Web

Adams, son of the second president, and sixth president himself, was smart, omnivorous, observant, bitchy, and hilarious (though always unintentionally).

— nr symposium, National Review, "It’s Summer, Time to Catch Up on Your Reading — A Symposium," 31 July 2017
Work hard and smart now as this cycle of high dynamics won’t last forever.

— jeraldine saunders, The Mercury News, "Horoscope: March 29, 2017," 29 Mar. 2017

First Known Use of smart

13th century

SMART Defined for English Language Learners

smart

adjective

Definition of smart for English Language Learners

: very good at learning or thinking about things
: showing intelligence or good judgment
: behaving or talking in a rude or impolite way : showing a lack of respect for someone

smart

verb

Definition of smart for English Language Learners

: to feel a sudden sharp pain
: to be upset about something

smart

adverb

Definition of smart for English Language Learners

: in a smart way

SMART Defined for Kids

smart

adjective \ ˈsmärt \

Definition of smart for Students

smarter; smartest

1 :quick to learn or do :bright

smart students

2 :showing good judgment :wise

a smart decision

3 :fresh 8

“You tryin’ to be smart with me, boy?”
—Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Shiloh

4 :stylish and fashionable

a smart dresser

5 :brisk 1, spirited

I was walking at a smart pace.

6 :controlled by computers and able to do things that seem intelligent

a smart machine

—

smartly

adverb

—

smartness

noun

smart

verb

Definition of smart for Students

smarted; smarting

1 :to cause or feel a sharp stinging pain

My eyes were smarting from the smoke.

2 :to be upset

She's still smarting from the criticism.

smart

noun

Definition of smart for Students

:a stinging pain usually in one spot

Medical Dictionary

smart

intransitive verb \ ˈsmärt \

medical Definition of smart

:to cause or be the cause or seat of a sharp poignant pain

rapid fatigue with burning and smarting of the conjunctiva
—H. G. Armstrong

; also :to feel or have such a pain

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smart

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smart

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