smart aleck

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smart al·eck

(ăl′ĭk)

n. Informal

A person regarded as annoyingly self-assertive, especially for making impudent displays of knowledge.

[Perhaps after Aleck Hoag, 19th-century American confidence man and thief.]

smart′-al′eck, smart′-al′eck·y (-ĭ-kē) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

smart aleck

(ˈælɪk)

n, pl smart alecks

informal an irritatingly oversmart person

[C19: from Aleck, Alec, short for Alexander]

ˈsmart-ˌaleck, ˈsmart-ˌalecky adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

smart′ al`eck

(or al`ec)

(ˈæl ɪk)
n. Informal.

an obnoxiously conceited and impertinent person.

[1860–65, Amer.; generic use of Aleck, nickname for Alexander]

smart′-al`eck•y, smart′-al`eck, adj.

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Noun

smart aleck - an upstart who makes conceited, sardonic, insolent comments

weisenheimer, wise guy, wiseacre, wisenheimer

upstart - an arrogant or presumptuous person

smart aleck

noun

Informal. One who is obnoxiously self-assertive and arrogant:

malapert, witling.

Informal: know-it-all, saucebox, smarty, smarty-pants, wisenheimer.

Slang: wiseacre, wisecracker, wise guy.

Translations

Besserwisser

smart aleck

[ˈsmɑːtˌælɪk] n (fam) → sapientone/a, sputasentenze m/f inv

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

'Speakun' o' Auckland--of course, Captun, you was never un Auckland?' 'Yus,' I says, 'I was un there very recent.' 'Oh, ho,' he says, very angry-like, 'so you was the smart Aleck thot fetched me thot letter from the owners: "We note item of fufteen pounds for pilotage ot Auckland.

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Some even circumvent it, nagiging pilosopo pa sila saying ang beer naman is not alcohol, beverage daw 'yun (some are even trying to be a smart aleck, reasoning out that beer is not an alcohol but a beverage).

Baguio shuts down 30 biz firms for violations

So I did, and it was then I saw that the smart aleck guy was right after all.

The uncertainty of certainty

The smart aleck who advises voters to take the money but elect their choices anyway doesn't know what he's talking about.

Devising ways around MIA runway congestion

It is a fun space romp with an unlikely group of smart aleck teen renegades who somehow manage to save their corner of the universe.--Erin Wyatt

England, M. K.: The Disasters

Fields' mid-decade ill health had stalled his screen career, but he was able to rebound by way of very lucrative radio work with ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his smart aleck dummy Charlie McCarthy.

Smoke 'em if You Got 'em

During a later interview with a police commander, the woman said she'd known Jensen for years and he was just being a smart aleck.

City releases disciplinary record of officer in fatal shooting

'Smart' Alec Hoag, because he never woke the victim, would be on the other side of town before the rube even knew what had happened." While that was a long explanation, it now enables you to work in into a conversation where everyone will begin to refer to you as a "smart aleck."

Smarty pants: exceptional parents have always worn "exceptional clothes" and have created an awareness, a movement and a culture that will surely outlast any battery-operated "smart device."

Gordon reprimanded Sombero: 'Don't be a smart aleck, don't give us the runaround.'

Senators grill DOJ chief on bribe rap

To add to the confusion, there will be some smart aleck who will decide to steer his car in a different direction throwing the situation into pandemonium.

Traffic mayhem

Sometimes one can be smart aleck. I always warn them.

Every one believed and struggled says Arda Turan

"Aren't you ever going to get good at this stuff, or what?" His answer to me, a smart aleck high school sophomore, was, "...always getting better son, always getting better." I could see that I had already entered 'the practice' of life; however, since I wasn't making any money at all (or not that much) because I wasn't that good at it, I knew that I wasn't a professional.