smack

CEFRB2

/smæk/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To hit with an open hand; a sharp sound from such a hit.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    A slight trace of something; a smattering.

Examples

  • I'll smack the living daylights out of you!

  • Kansas is smack dab in the middle of the US.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meaning

  1. Synonym of heroin.

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A distinct flavor, especially if slight.

  2. A form of fried potato; a scallop.

More examples

In context

  • He soon smacked the taste of physic hidden in this sweetness.

  • rice pudding with a smack of cinnamon

  • 1820-25, Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf — our crug — moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poure...

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The toddler reached out and tried to blank his brother on the arm, but his mother stopped him.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

The noun is from Middle English smac, smak, smacke, from Old English smæc, smæċċ (“taste, smatch”), from Proto-West Germanic *smakku, from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“a taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *smegʰ-, *smeg- (“to taste”). The verb is from Middle English smaken. Doublet of smatch (obsolete, “taste”; q.v.), from Old English smæċċan (“to taste, smack”). Cognate with Scots smak (“scent, smell, taste, flavour”), Saterland Frisian Smoak (“taste”), West Frisian smaak (“taste”), Dutch smaak (“taste”), German Schmack, Geschmack (“taste”), Danish smag (“taste”), Swedish and Norwegian smak (“taste”), Norwegian smekke.