smart
showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,784 of 86,757 words measured. It occurs 47,949 times across 426,181 published chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
adjective
- showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
- elegant and stylish also: chic, voguish chic elegancea smart new dress
- characterized by quickness and ease in learning also: bright some children are brighter in one subject than anothersmart children talk earlier than the average
- improperly forward or bold also: fresh, impertinent, impudent, overbold, saucy, sassy don't be fresh with meimpertinent of a child to lecture a grownup
- painfully severe he gave the dog a smart blow
- quick and brisk I gave him a smart salutewe walked at a smart pace
verb
- be the source of pain also: ache, hurt
smart in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
-
But you’ve had to smart for him.
Harrington: A Story of True Love · William Douglas O'Connor · Chapter 1
-
I was in a dilemma; the nearest village being a smart hour’s walk away, down in the valley.
The story hunter · Ernest R. (Ernest Richard) Suffling · Chapter 1
-
He was smart and waited till you weren't around, 'cause he knows you cut a lot of ice with Trix.
One touch of Terra · Hannes Bok · Chapter 1
-
He would not wait for the books, but turned the horses’ heads homewards and set off at a smart trot.
A Yellow Aster, Volume 3 (of 3) · Mannington, Mrs., -1926 Caffyn · Chapter 1
-
Her husband had used the word that described her: she was, in the London current jargon, essentially and typically “smart.”
The Real Thing and Other Tales · Henry James · Chapter 1