smartass
What does “smartass” mean in English?
An insult for someone who is annoyingly clever or cheeky, often when they think they’re being funny or clever but are just irritating.
Commonly used in North America, it’s similar to calling someone a wiseass. It’s typically aimed at someone directly and has a playful but slightly mocking tone.
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Related English words
wiseass
2/5 · CoarseIt's an insult for someone who is annoyingly clever or cheeky, often making sarcastic remarks. Think of it as calling someone a smartass.
ass kisser
2/5 · CoarseIt's an insult for someone who flatters others excessively to gain favor. The term suggests a lack of authenticity in the person's praise.
dumbass
2/5 · CoarseIt's an insult for someone acting foolishly or stupidly. Think of it as calling someone a dumb idiot.
jackass
2/5 · CoarseIt's an insult for someone who is foolish or annoying. Literally, it means a male donkey, but that's not how it's used here.
About this data
Swear Atlas is a source-attested, AI-curated reference — not a native-speaker-certified dictionary. Meanings and the 1–5 Burn Rating are approximate editorial assessments that vary with context, region, tone and speaker. Inclusion of a word does not constitute endorsement of its use.
“Sounds like” is an English-friendly approximation of how the word sounds, not an authoritative pronunciation. Where shown, the romanisation is a conventional Latin-script transliteration of the original spelling.
Term attested via Viddexa SafeText, FlacSy/BadWords (MIT, MIT AND CC-BY-4.0). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.