Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smarten (up)
Verb
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My introduction to Peters came late last year, when Instagram’s algorithm served me a video of him wearing a baseball cap, primping and pouting for the camera.—
Thomas Chatterton Williams,
The Atlantic,
19 Jan. 2026 -
Murphy is obsessed with their maximalism: the richest of the rich, the most snatched of all waists, the plucked and primped and plumped and pressed.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Looking to doll up your collarbones instead?—
Stacia Datskovska,
Footwear News,
7 Oct. 2025
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The store had to be closed for several days while volunteers set the dolls up for display, and only 25 shoppers could be allowed in at a time for viewing because of the dolls’ values.—
Elizabeth Marie Himchak,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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This mourning is also steeped in a deep appreciation for young Tabitha and a wistful wish that 1980s Trinbago had allowed that young girl to adorn her crown, to preen in its beauty, to relish in its versatility, to just live as a young Black multiracial woman.—
Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs,
Parents,
2 Dec. 2025
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Its hero, Lee Raybon, played by Ethan Hawke, is a The Dude–esque detective-journalist, its baddies (played by Kyle MacLachlan, Paul Sparks, and Tracy Letts) glower and preen, and Keith David’s uneasy sidekick swings between humor and gravitas.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
Verb
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My perspective on it was more from a lot of people coming to Edinburgh dressed up.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Jan. 2026
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People of all ages packed the seats, some dressed up, chatting before Howard Shore’s score sucked viewers into Middle Earth.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
23 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Smarten (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smarten%20%28up%29. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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