SKIP TO CONTENT

wiseacre

/ˌwaɪzˈeɪkər/
IPA guide

Other forms: wiseacres

Use the noun wiseacre when you need an old-fashioned way to talk about a smarty pants. Your grandfather might refer to your smart mouthed, know-it-all little brother as a wiseacre.

Wiseacre and all of its synonyms carry an informal air about them, perhaps suggesting that we don't want to formalize the idea of a smart aleck. Wiseacre comes from Dutch wijssegger, which means "soothsayer." The wise bit is in fact related to wise. The acre part — well, as one dictionary puts it, "the assimilation to acre remains unexplained."

Definitions of wiseacre
  1. noun
    an irritating person who is or pretends to be smart
Cite this entry
Style:
MLA
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago

Copy citation
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘wiseacre'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
Word Family