smart

• (General American) IPA^(key): /smɑɹt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /smɑːt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t

From Middle English smerten, from Old English *smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-West Germanic *smertan, from Proto-Germanic *smertaną (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German schmerzen, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta.

smart (third-person singular simple present smarts, present participle smarting, simple past smarted or (obsolete) smort, past participle smarted or (obsolete) smorten)

1. (intransitive) To hurt or sting.

   After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

     He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."

   • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 May 2024:

     When the thrashing stopped, Fina used the pipe to roll the first woman's corpse over. She bent down, feeling a curious distance between the sudden serenity in her mind and the actions of her limbs, and beat the flames off the jacket with her bare hands. They were sooty and smarting as she used them to pry the garment off the woman's slack shoulders, and threw it over her own.

2. (transitive) To cause a smart or sting in.
   • a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith’s Encouragement:

     A goad that […] smarts the flesh.

3. (intransitive) To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
   • 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 5, lines 81–82:

     You think this cruel? take it for a rule, / No creature ſmarts ſo little as a Fool.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:15:

     He that is ſurety for a ſtranger ſhall ſmart for it.

   • 1790, [Ann Radcliffe], chapter XI, in A Sicilian Romance. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Hookham, […], →OCLC, page 85:

     Meanvvhile the Abate exulted in ſucceſsful vengeance, and the marquis ſmarted beneath the ſtings of diſappointment.

• arsesmart
• besmart
• nosesmart
• smartful
• smarting
• smartweed

From Middle English smert, smart, from Old English smeart (“smarting, smart, painful”), from Proto-Germanic *smartaz (“hurting, aching”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert (“painful, smart”), Old Frisian smert (“sharp, painful”).

smart (comparative smarter or more smart, superlative smartest or most smart)

1. Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.

   Synonyms: bright, capable, sophisticated, witty; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

   Antonyms: backward, banal, boorish, dull, inept

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 19, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.

2. (informal) Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.

   Synonyms: cultivated, educated, learned; see also Thesaurus:learned

   Antonyms: ignorant, uncultivated, simple

4. (often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).

   Antonym: dumb

   smart car

   smartcard

   smartphone

   • 2018 December 18, Joe Pinsker, “The Coming Commodification of Life at Home”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     “Imagine this,” says an advertising consultant named Barry Lowenthal. “I’m a smart toaster, and I’m collecting data on how many times the toaster is used.”

6. Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.

   Synonyms: attractive, chic, dapper, stylish, handsome

   Antonyms: garish, outré, tacky

   a smart outfit

   You look smart in that business suit.

7. Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.

   Synonym: silly

   He became tired of his girlfriend's smart remarks.

   Don't get smart with me!

   • 1728, Edward Young, Satire:

     Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart?

   • 1711 October 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 20, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 175; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart, when my ill genius, who I verily believed inspired him purely for my destruction, suggested to him such a reply

     The spelling has been modernized.

8. Sudden and intense.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     smart skirmishes, in which many fell

   • 1860 July 9, Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, from Thoreau's bird-lore, Francis H. Allen (editor), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, 1910), Thoreau on Birds: notes on New England birds from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau, Beacon Press, (Boston, 1993), page 239:

     There is a smart shower at 5 P.M., and in the midst of it a hummingbird is busy about the flowers in the garden, unmindful of it, though you would think that each big drop that struck him would be a serious accident.

9. Causing sharp pain; stinging.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience.

10. Sharp; keen; poignant.

    a smart pain

11. (Southern US, dated) Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.

    He raised his voice; it hurt her feelings right smart.

    That cast on his leg chaffs him right smart.

12. (archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
    • 1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

      The stars shine smarter.

13. (archaic) Pretentious; showy; spruce.

    a smart gown

14. (archaic) Brisk; fresh.

    a smart breeze

15. (Appalachia) Hard-working.

• → Danish: smart
• → German: smart
• → Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: smart
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: smart
• → Swedish: smart

From Middle English smerte, from smerten (“to smart”); see above. Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smart, Low German smart, German Schmerz, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta. More above.

smart (plural smarts)

1. A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
   • 1567, Ovid, “(please specify the book number or chapter)”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC:

     […] the bodie had no smart / Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell stings.

   • 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book 5”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 25, lines 176-178:

     If chance some Shepherd with a distant Dart / The Savage wound, he rowzes at the Smart, / He foams, he roars […]

   • 1871, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 12, in Little Men: […], Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

     Of course Tommy came to grief, tumbled upon a hornets’ nest and got stung; but being used to woe, he bore the smart manfully […]

   • 1948, Graham Greene, chapter 1, in The Heart of the Matter‎^[3], London: Heinemann, Book One, Part One, section 8, page 42:

     The smart of his wounded hand woke Scobie at two in the morning.

2. Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 101:

     Mishaps are maistred by aduice discrete, / And counsell mitigates the greatest smart; / Found neuer help, who neuer would his hurts impart.

   • 1624 (date written), John Milton, “On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], published 1673, →OCLC, page 20:

     But oh why didst thou not stay here below / To bless us with thy heav’n lov’d innocence, […] / To stand ’twixt us and our deserved smart / But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VIII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 130:

     I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was,—that tears started to my eyes.

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     […] Bertrand said, ‘No, you bloody idiot, do you think I drink this? I want mineral water.’ The girl recoiled for just a second at the smart of his tone […] and then apologized with steely insincerity.

3. Smart-money.
4. (slang, dated) A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
   • 1742, Henry Fielding, “In which the Gentleman Relates the History of His Life”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III, page 36:

     […] I reſolved to quit all further Converſation vvith Beaus and Smarts of all kinds, […]

• smartful

• armts., trams, MSTAR, tarms, marts, stram

Borrowed from English smart.

smart (neuter smart, plural and definite singular attributive smarte, comparative smartere, superlative (predicative) smartest, superlative (attributive) smarteste)

1. (of a solution, contraption, plan etc.) well thought-out, neat
2. snazzy, fashionable, dapper

• oversmart

• smert (dialectal)

From Middle Dutch smarte, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from or related to the verb *smertan (whence smarten). Cognates include German Schmerz, English smart.

• IPA^(key): /smɑrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: smart
• Rhymes: -ɑrt

smart f (plural smarten)

1. pain, sorrow, grief

• Other than in the saying met smart, the word is nowadays considered to be dated.

• Negerhollands: smert, smerte

Borrowed from English smart, 19th c.

• IPA^(key): /smaːɐ̯t/, /smaʁt/

• Audio:

  (file)

smart (strong nominative masculine singular smarter, comparative smarter, superlative am smartesten)

1. smart (exhibiting social ability or cleverness)

   Synonyms: aufgeweckt, clever, gewitzt, pfiffig

   • 1862, “Amerikanische Zwangsmaßregel”, in Die Gartenlaube‎^[4], number 20, page 320:

     Während in New York und andern östlichen Städten der einfachste kürzeste Proceßgang darin besteht, ist in vielen der westlichen Staaten ein „smarter“ Miether im Stande, fast noch ein Jahr nach geschehener Aufkündigung ein Haus zu bewohnen, ohne nur einen Pfennig Miethe zu zahlen.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1910, Walther Kabel, Der schlafende Fakir‎^[5]:

     Da vertraute ich mich meinem Chef, Herrn William Hawkens, an, der ein viel zu smarter Geschäftsmann ist, als daß er nicht das nötige Verständnis für diese unter Umständen recht einträgliche Idee gehabt hätte.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2017, Rechtsanwalt Dr. Thomas M. Grupp, Maître en droit (Aix-Marseille III), “Entwicklungen im Umfeld einer Rechts- und Gerichtsstandswahl in Zeiten von Brexit”, in Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (EuZW)‎^[6], number 24, page 977:

     Die ersichtlichen Bemühungen, einen smarteren Ausstieg aus der EU zu erreichen, decken sich mit den beiden eingangs schon erwähnten Positionspapieren, die von der britischen Regierung im August 2017 zu Themen einer grenzüberschreitenden zivilgerichtlichen Zusammenarbeit und zur Rechtsdurchsetzung und Streitlösung (Dispute Resolution) veröffentlicht worden sind.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. smart (good-looking, well-dressed)

   Synonyms: chic, elegant, fein

• “smart” in Duden online
• “smart” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

• IPA^(key): /smart/

smart

1. first/second-person singular perfect of smar

smart

1. Alternative form of smert

From English smart.

smart (neuter singular smart, definite singular and plural smarte, comparative smartere, indefinite superlative smartest, definite superlative smarteste)

1. clever (mentally sharp or bright)
2. smart

• smartklokke
• smarttelefon

• “smart” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From English smart.

smart (neuter singular smart, definite singular and plural smarte, comparative smartare, indefinite superlative smartast, definite superlative smartaste)

1. clever (mentally sharp or bright)
2. smart

• smartklokke
• smarttelefon

• “smart” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

smart (invariable)

1. smart (with smart technology)

Borrowed from English smart.

• IPA^(key): /smɑːʈ/

• Audio:

  (file)

smart (comparative smartare, superlative smartast)

1. smart; clever

   Antonym: osmart

Inflection of smart
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	smart	smartare	smartast
Neuter singular	smart	smartare	smartast
Plural	smarta	smartare	smartast
Masculine plural3	smarte	smartare	smartast
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	smarte	smartare	smartaste
All	smarta	smartare	smartaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

• gatusmart
• smartskaft

• smart in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• smart in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• smart in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• tarms, trams