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Synonyms

smart aleck

American  
[smahrt al-ik] / ˈsmɑrt ˌæl ɪk /
Or smart alec

noun

Informal.

  1. wise guy.

smart aleck British  
/ ˈælɪk /

noun

  1. informal an irritatingly oversmart person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
smart aleck Idioms  

  1. An impudent or obnoxiously self-assertive individual, a wise guy, as in New teachers often have a hard time coping with the smart alecks in their classes. This expression, dating from the mid-1800s, probably alluded to a person of this description who was named Alec or Alexander, but his identity has been lost.

Other Word Forms

  • smart-aleck adjective
  • smart-alecky adjective

Etymology

Origin of smart aleck

An Americanism first recorded in 1860–65; generic use of Aleck, nickname for Alexander

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.