Word.ws English Dictionary

smart alec

smart alec is the alternative spelling of smart aleck.

Meaning of smart aleck

Noun

smart aleck (plural smart alecks)

  1. One who is given to obnoxious or insolent humor.
  2. One who is pretentious about their own cleverness or knowledge.
  3. One who is obnoxiously self-assured; a show off.
    Synonyms:
    smart ass
  4. (rare) A well-dressed person.

Forms of smart alec

pluralsmart alecs

Questions about smart alec

What is smart alec the alternative spelling of?
Smart alec is the alternative spelling of smart aleck.

Words near smart alec in the dictionary

  1. smarms
  2. smarmy
  3. Smarr
  4. Smarrs
  5. smart
  6. smart alec
  7. smart aleck
  8. smart alecks
  9. smart alecs
  10. smart appliance
  11. smart appliances

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smart alec (page history and authors); smart aleck (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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Cite this entry: “smart alec.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smart_alec. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.