street-smart

[ street-smahrt ]

adjective

1. possessing or showing street smarts.

Word History and Origins

Origin of street-smart¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

And it’s a brief respite from work — she plays street-smart second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and is currently on tour performing her comedy show.

From Los Angeles Times

Committed to expanding the Black presence in Hollywood, he was both a writer and an executive producer on “Fresh Prince,” the hit 1990s NBC comedy starring Will Smith as a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who moves in with his aunt and uncle in the moneyed hills of Los Angeles.

From New York Times

“But I think he’s a very street-smart character who’s survived in a world where people like him shouldn’t survive.”

From New York Times

It's an abrupt change for one of the leading voices in reggaeton, the sexually-charged, street-smart style that emerged in Panama and Puerto Rico in the 1990s, blending reggae music with Latin American dance hall music and hip-hop.

From BBC

He often played a mob boss, a street-smart detective or a bedraggled working man.

From New York Times