Word.ws English Dictionary

smarmy

UK/ˈsmɑː.mi//ˈsmɑɹ.mi/

smarmy adjective: falsely earnest, smug, ingratiating, or pious.

Adjective

smarmy (comparative smarmier, superlative smarmiest)

  1. Falsely earnest, smug, ingratiating, or pious.
    • a smarmy salesman with a big smile
    • “Hey, slow down, nature boy.” “Y'know, screw you, Jen. I'm sick of your smarmy comments. I may not be the toughest guy out there, or the smartest, but at least I can admit it. All you ever do is complain and tear down your friends and pick on people and--” “But I'm just kidding!” “Yeah, you're...1999 November 1, David Regal, “Cropsey Clanners” (12:11 from the start), in Downtown, season 1, episode 12, spoken by Alex Henson (Gregory Gilmore), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2025
  2. (dated, rare) Unctuous, greasy, as hair from pomade.
    • He looked faintly loutish, with smarmy hair and a hint of a moustache.1985, Lynn Pan, Into China's Heart: An Emigré's Journey Along the Yellow River, page 200
    • I pulled on my smarmy t-shirt and my ragged jeans and dragged myself to report to my supervisor.2002 October, Austin Branstetter, "My day as a Carnie" Top of the Hill (Montgomery Bell Academy) Vol.8 No.1 p.4

smarmy meaning in Tamil and Malayalam

smarmy in Tamil

புகழ்பாடும், மிகைபாராட்டும், துதிபாடும், குழையும்

smarmy in Malayalam

ingratiating, unctuous, slick
സ്തുതികൊണ്ട് ആളെ വശത്താക്കുന്ന, അടിപണിയുന്ന, വളരെ വിധേയത്വം കാട്ടുന്ന, മുഖസ്തുതി പറയുന്ന, പാദസേവ ചെയ്യുന്ന, ദാസ്യമായി അടിപണിയുന്ന

Examples of smarmy in a sentence

  • Anyway, let's find some help.” “You really think I'm smarmy?” “Yeah.” “I always thought of myself as more of the snide type.”1999 November 1, David Regal, “Cropsey Clanners” (12:11 from the start), in Downtown, season 1, episode 12, spoken by Alex Henson (Gregory...
  • Starring a smarmy dog and scores of hapless flying wildfowl, Duck Hunt was the game that introduced many to the joys of the NES Zapper lightgun.2019, “Ultimate Guide: Duck Hunt”, in Darran Jones, editor, 100 Games to Play Before You Die: Nintendo Consoles Edition (Retro Gamer), 3rd...

All 10 example sentences with smarmy

Synonyms of smarmy

All synonyms of smarmy

Forms of smarmy

comparativesmarmier
superlativesmarmiest

Origin of smarmy

From smarm + -y. Apparently coined by "B.R.L., of Brighton" with sense "saying treacly things which do not sound genuine" in a competition for neologisms in The Academy (London) published on 14 January 1899.

Words that rhyme with smarmy

Questions about smarmy

What does smarmy mean?
Smarmy means falsely earnest, smug, ingratiating, or pious.
What is smarmy in Tamil?
Smarmy in Tamil is புகழ்பாடும், மிகைபாராட்டும், துதிபாடும். See Smarmy meaning in Tamil.
How do you use smarmy in a sentence?
Anyway, let's find some help.” “You really think I'm smarmy?” “Yeah.” “I always thought of myself as more of the snide type.”
What part of speech is smarmy?
Smarmy is an adjective.
How do you pronounce smarmy?
Smarmy is pronounced /ˈsmɑː.mi/ (UK).

Words near smarmy in the dictionary

  1. smarmiest
  2. smarmily
  3. smarminess
  4. smarming
  5. smarms
  6. smarmy
  7. Smarr
  8. Smarrs
  9. smart
  10. smart alec
  11. smart aleck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smarmy (page history and authors); smarmy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); smarmy (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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: en-us-smarmy.ogg, en-au-smarmy.ogg.

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