Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The character of being smart, in any sense.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being smart.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The state or quality of being smart.
  • noun countable The result or product of being smart.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore
  • noun intelligence as manifested in being quick and witty
  • noun elegance by virtue of being fashionable
  • noun liveliness and eagerness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From smart +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • But what I lack in smartness and funniness, I more than make up for in cruelty!

    Discourse.net: A Joy of Blogging 2009

  • The smartness is mostly wasted, as I'm sitting at my desk with absolutely nothing to do, wishing I was at home in my pyjamas.

    The One With The New Shoes kisobel 2005

  • Technical information, and that quickness of apprehension which New Englanders call smartness, are not so valuable to a human being as sensibility to the beautiful, and a spontaneous appreciation of the divine influences which fill the realms of vision and of sound, and the world of action and, feeling.

    Choice Specimens of American Literature, and Literary Reader Being Selections from the Chief American Writers Benj. N. Martin

  • By discipline, I do not merely mean smartness, which is involved in quick and correct response to the word of command; that, of course, is part of it; but I refer more particularly to that grip of self which enables a man to force himself into subjection to authority, which may be entirely inimical to his own will.

    With The Immortal Seventh Division Edmund John Kennedy

  • When he died he left her nothing but the boy Tom, a precocious urchin, inheriting some of his father's sporting propensities, with a certain slang smartness of tone and manner, acquired in those circles where horseflesh is affected as an inducement to speculation.

    M. or N. "Similia similibus curantur." G.J. Whyte-Melville 1849

  • I think a primary vector of its economic and cultural pathology is the place of "smartness" in the white subculture you are talking about.

    Monoculture Is Bad For Business - Anil Dash 2009

  • In Europe, Malta is radically refiguring its water metering to conserve energy, and there is an EU-wide smarter cities initiative, ranking smaller towns according to their "smartness".

    City design: Transforming tomorrow Terry Kirby 2010

  • I don't have any of that myspace, facebook stuff and I found that when I did i felt dumb and socially awkward and now that I am like years without having one, my social skills and "smartness" is surpassing my peers and old friends. they are so used to typing things that they forget how to talk face to face and would do anything to avoid it.

    Is Technology Making Us Dumb? floreta 2009

  • Other than the quality of what he's produced, there is no accepted measure of "smartness" one can invoke, no way to tell and nothing really being said in asking if Thomas is "smart enough" or "as smart as" some other judge.

    I play the race card on Obama for all but playing the race card on Clarence Thomas. Ann Althouse 2008

  • Any move towards "smartness" and autonomy must be dealt with in the design of the interaction.

    Don Norman: "The Design of Future Things" Erik Stolterman 2007

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