Word.ws English Dictionary

smartass

smartass noun: an insolent person, especially one who makes snide remarks.

Noun

smartass (plural smartasses)

  1. (derogatory, mildly, slang, vulgar) An insolent person, especially one who makes snide remarks.
    • Lots of luck, smartass.
    Synonyms:
    smart aleck
  2. (mildly, vulgar) Synonym of know-it-all, an obnoxious clever person or a person making obnoxious efforts to seem clever by acting or behaving as if they know everything.
    Synonyms:
    know-it-all

Adjective

smartass (not comparable)

  1. (derogatory, slang, vulgar) Related to or characteristic of a smartass; irritatingly clever or smug.
    • I have had quite enough of your smartass remarks.
    • "That is heresy!" Reb Shimon exclaimed, and then added, "Where do you get such smartass opinions?"2019, Abby Chava Stein, Becoming Eve, Seal Press, page 64

Verb

smartass (third-person singular simple present smartasses, present participle smartassing, simple past and past participle smartassed)

  1. (derogatory, intransitive, slang, vulgar) To speak in a condescending manner characterized by frequent sarcastic or disparaging remarks.
    • I smartassed and smack-talked half of the interview, but as I relaxed a bit more and genuinely talked with them, a strange thing happened.2012, Storm Large, Crazy Enough: A Memoir

smartass meaning in Tagalog, Indonesian and Thai

smartass in Tagalog

one who is particularly insolent
pilosopo

smartass in Indonesian

one who is particularly insolent
sok pintar, sok tahu

smartass in Thai

one who is particularly insolent
อวดรู้, แสนรู้

Synonyms of smartass

Forms of smartass

Noun
pluralsmartasses
alternative formsmart ass
alternative formsmart arse
Verb
third-person singular presentsmartasses
present participlesmartassing
past participlesmartassed
pastsmartassed

Origin of smartass

From smart + -ass.

Words formed from smartass

Questions about smartass

What does smartass mean?
Smartass means an insolent person, especially one who makes snide remarks.
What is smartass in Tagalog?
Smartass in Tagalog is pilosopo. See Smartass meaning in Tagalog.
What part of speech is smartass?
Smartass can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
What is the plural of smartass?
The plural of smartass is smartasses.

Words near smartass in the dictionary

  1. Smarta
  2. smartarse
  3. smartarsed
  4. smartarses
  5. Smartas
  6. smartass
  7. smartassed
  8. smartassery
  9. smartasses
  10. smartassing
  11. smartassy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smartass (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-smartass.ogg.

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