smarty-pants
noun
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
Al GoreChoosing 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
Marilyn StasioEven the smartest of smarty-pants couldn't have answered all four of those "gotcha" foreign-policy questions.—Jonathan Alter
Jonathan Alter
smarty-pants
adjective
… a veneer of smarty-pants condescension.
—Ron Powers
Ron Powers
Every musical genre has its smarty-pants jokesters, and alternative rock is no exception.
—Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Examples of smarty-pants in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The occasion was the AP English Language and Composition exam, that annual ritual for smarty-pants high schoolers that allows those who get a great score to earn college credit.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2025
Ayyar shares in the pride for her smarty-pants sons.
—Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post, 13 Mar. 2025
Facebook was founded in 2004 by some smarty-pants college students whose one goal was to get women.
—Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 8 Apr. 2024
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Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2025
Ayyar shares in the pride for her smarty-pants sons.
—Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post, 13 Mar. 2025
Facebook was founded in 2004 by some smarty-pants college students whose one goal was to get women.
—Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 8 Apr. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Smarty-pants.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smarty-pants. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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