smart

«smart» in Mova's school dictionary: clever and quick to learn and understand — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (smart, smarter, smartest); verb (smart, smarts, smarted, smarting); noun (smarts — informal, cleverness)

meaning for a pupil

1) Smart means clever and quick to learn and understand. tree →

2) Smart (especially in the UK, Ireland, Australia) means neat, tidy and well-dressed: a smart uniform. tree →

3) Smart describes a machine that uses a computer and the internet: a smartphone, a smart speaker. tree →

4) To smart means to sting or hurt sharply: my eyes smarted from the smoke. tree →

sense in the lessons

At school: «smart» praise for clever thinking; a «smart» school uniform for photo day. In safety: «be smart online» — keep passwords private and do not talk to strangers. «Smart devices» are taught in computing lessons. In stories, «a smart answer» may also mean a rude, cheeky reply. Phrases: smart idea, look smart, smartphone, smart board, street smart, smart aleck.

examples

• She is smart and solves puzzles quickly. tree →
• You look very smart in your new blazer. tree →
• That was a smart idea to bring an umbrella. tree →
• Our classroom has a smart board. tree →
• The smoke made my eyes smart. tree →
• Be smart online and never share your address. tree →
• Don't get smart with me, young man! tree →
• Dad asked the smart speaker to play music. tree →
• Wow, but it's a fine feeling to be so smart!" tree →

note

Adjective: smarter, smartest. American English uses «smart» mostly for clever; British, Irish and Australian English also use it often for neat and well-dressed. «Smart» as a cheeky reply («Don't be smart») is a telling-off. Being smart is not only being clever: hard work and asking questions count too.

In the corpora

• Asking a bot for practice questions is a smart way to revise, if they cover the right topics.
• Many famous bands changed their names early on, and it is smart to check nobody else already uses a name.
• Pigeons are smarter than they look: they can tell people's faces apart and remember who chased them and who fed them.
• Badger does not mind table manners, because he «did not go into Society» (Society = smart, polite company).
• Toad: «Smart piece of work that! … Brain against brute force—and brain came out on the top».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «smart» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.