Word of the Day:

April 4, 2026

wiseacre

noun WYZE-ay-ker

What it Means

A wiseacre is someone who says or does things that are funny but annoying. Wiseacre is an informal and old-fashioned word, as well as a synonym of smart aleck.

// Some wiseacre in the audience kept heckling the comedian throughout the performance.

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Wiseacre in Context

"In 1982's hit action comedy 48 Hours, a young Eddie Murphy plays a wiseacre criminal on parole in order to help a veteran cop, played by Nick Nolte, solve a case." — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 4 Aug. 2025

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Did You Know?

Given the spelling and definition of wiseacre, you might guess that the word was formed directly from the familiar adjective wise. And you might be wise to think so—a wiseacre, after all, is someone who thinks or pretends they're wiser (more crafty or knowing) than they are. But you would, alas, also be wrong. Unlike wisecrack and wisenheimer, wiseacre came to English not from wise but from the Middle Dutch word wijssegger, meaning "soothsayer." Wiseacre first appeared in English way back in the 16th century, while all those other wise words appeared centuries later. 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.