Word.ws English Dictionary

smarm

/smɑːm/US/smɑɹm/

smarm noun: smarmy language or behavior.

Noun

smarm (countable and uncountable, plural smarms)

  1. Smarmy language or behavior.
    • Phil Hartman, the voice and soul of McClure, was the king of making everything sounds cheerful and positive, no matter how grim. McClure was the personification of smarm. He alone could say, “Your children are missing. I know because I murdered them with my own hands!” and make it sound like good...2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club
  2. (slang) A style of fan fiction in which characters are warm and caring toward each other but without sexual overtones.

Verb

smarm (third-person singular simple present smarms, present participle smarming, simple past and past participle smarmed)

  1. (intransitive) To fawn, to be unctuous.
  2. (transitive) To address in a fawning and unctuous manner.
    • "If you go to her and smarm her, it will be all right."
      "If I do what to her?" asked Mervyn, wondering what the operation of smarming might be.
      "Of course you don't know," laughed Aggie; "it is a school word. You explain what it means, Isabel."
      "To smarm," explained Isabel, "signifies to say 'yes...1874, Frank Usher, A strange love, volume 2, London: Tinsley Bros, page 53
    • He rose ... on his wife's fortune and judicious smarming of powerful people.1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine

Forms of smarm

Noun
pluralsmarms
Verb
third-person singular presentsmarms
present participlesmarming
past participlesmarmed
pastsmarmed

Origin of smarm

The noun is attested since 1914, from the colloquial verb smalm, smarm (“to smear, bedaub (hair, with pomade)”), attested since 1847, of unknown origin, perhaps somehow suggestive of the action. Verbal meaning "to smear with flattery" is from 1902.

Words that rhyme with smarm

19 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about smarm

What does smarm mean?
Smarm means smarmy language or behavior.
What part of speech is smarm?
Smarm can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce smarm?
Smarm is pronounced /smɑːm/ (UK).
What is the plural of smarm?
The plural of smarm is smarms.

Words near smarm in the dictionary

  1. smaridid
  2. smaridids
  3. smark
  4. smarketing
  5. smarks
  6. smarm
  7. smarmed
  8. smarmier
  9. smarmiest
  10. smarmily
  11. smarminess

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smarm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-smarm.wav.

Cite this entry: “smarm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smarm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.