Definition of wiseacre
:one who pretends to knowledge or cleverness;
especially
:smart aleck
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
Explore M-W
wiseacre was our Word of the Day on 08/05/2012. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Examples of wiseacre in a Sentence
Quit being such a wiseacre and help your mother.
a loudmouthed wiseacre who thinks he is more amusing than he really is
Recent Examples of wiseacre from the Web
-
Thomas’ good looks and ability to play a wiseacre were something of a calling card, and his secondary roles could brighten even a weak show or movie.
-
From the gangly frame, to the newsboy cap, to the vernacular wiseacre persona, to the MOR star country folk singer songwriter deep green and blues, everything about him is a popular brand somewhere where surreal and unreal meet in the middle.
-
Hodgson and company were doing wiseacre DVD commentaries before DVD commentaries, or DVDs, were even a thing.
-
The writer-producer-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel come off as virtuoso deadpan wiseacres in this engaging, cutting-edge neo-noir, from 1993.
-
Misty, of course, is the wiseacre former folkie Josh Tillman, whose first two LP's as Misty tweaked L.A. life while trying to find some real romance underneath.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wiseacre.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
wiseacre Has Old English Roots
Given the spelling and definition of "wiseacre," you might guess that the word derives from the sense of wise meaning "insolent" or "fresh"-the sense that gives us "wisecrack" and "wisenheimer." But, in fact, "wiseacre" came to English by a different route; it derived from the Middle Dutch "wijssegger" (meaning "soothsayer"), a modification of the Old High German wīzzago. "Wiseacre" first appeared in English way back in the late 16th century, while the "insolent" sense of "wise" and the words formed from it are products of the 19th and 20th centuries. The etymologies of "wiseacre" and "wise" are not completely distinct, however; the ancestors of "wiseacre" are loosely tied to the same Old English root that gave us "wise."
Origin and Etymology of wiseacre
Middle Dutch wijssegger soothsayer, modification of Old High German wīzzago; akin to Old English wītega soothsayer, witan to know
wiseacre Synonyms
Synonyms
smarty (or smartie), smarty-pants, smart aleck, wiseass, wise guy, wisenheimer (also weisenheimer)Related Words
know-all [chiefly British], know-it-all; wisecracker; hotshot, show-offWISEACRE Defined for English Language Learners
wiseacre
play
noun
Definition of wiseacre for English Language Learners
-
: a person who says or does things that are funny but also annoying
Learn More about wiseacre
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up wiseacre? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!