Smart Meaning
/smɑɹt/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo hurt or sting.
verbTo cause a smart or sting in.
Sentence Examples
She's really smart, isn't she?
You look smart in the shirt.
I have to be smart for work.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ student finished the test in half the time and got a perfect score.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The student was very ____ and always finished her assignments long before the deadline.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English smerten, from Old English *smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-West Germanic *smertan, from Proto-Germanic *smertaną (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German schmerzen, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully.""
— 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
"When the thrashing stopped, Fina used the pipe to roll the first woman's corpse over. She bent down, feeling a curious distance between the sudden serenity in her mind and the actions of her limbs, and beat the flames off the jacket with her bare hands. They were sooty and smarting as she used them to pry the garment off the woman's slack shoulders, and threw it over her own."
— 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
"A goad that […] smarts the flesh."
— a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith’s Encouragement:
"You think this cruel? take it for a rule, / No creature ſmarts ſo little as a Fool."
— 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 5, lines 81–82:
"He that is ſurety for a ſtranger ſhall ſmart for it."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:15:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ student finished the test in half the time and got a perfect score.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The student was very ____ and always finished her assignments long before the deadline.