smartass

noun, adjective, verb

smartass is a derogatory, vulgar noun meaning “An insolent person, especially one who makes snide remarks” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-M-A-R-T-A-S-S and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of smartass is smartasses.

What does smartass mean?

noun

1
derogatoryslangvulgarAn insolent person, especially one who makes snide remarks.
Lots of luck, smartass.
2
vulgarSynonym of know-it-all, an obnoxious clever person or a person making obnoxious efforts to seem clever by acting or behaving as if they know everything.

adjective

1
derogatoryslangvulgarRelated to or characteristic of a smartass; irritatingly clever or smug.
I have had quite enough of your smartass remarks.

verb

1
derogatoryslangvulgarTo speak in a condescending manner characterized by frequent sarcastic or disparaging remarks.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce smartass?

Australia

Smartass has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-smartass.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of smartass

smartasses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
smart ass
smart arse
smartassing participle, present
smartassed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is smartass?

Smartass appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 46,473rd most frequent word form in the list.

smartass0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Smartass in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	gonflé, plaisantin, blagueur, farceur (one who is particularly insolent)
German	Klugscheißer, Klugscheißerin, Besserwisser, Besserwisserin, spitze Zunge, boßhafte Zunge (one who is particularly insolent)
Portuguese	espertalhão (one who is particularly insolent)
Spanish	inteligentón, sabiondo, sabihondo (one who is particularly insolent), burlón, goyo (related to or characteristic of a smartass)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does smartass come from?

From smart + -ass.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).