Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having the shrewd awareness, experience, and resourcefulness needed for survival in a difficult, often dangerous urban environment.

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

  • adjective Having the necessary knack, personality and instinct for survival in rough, urban environments.
  • adjective Possessing a style that embodies the life and microculture located within urban settings, typically in the States.

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

  • adjective having the shrewd resourcefulness needed to survive in an urban environment

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

street +‎ wise

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Examples

  • At the same time, a team of people living with the diseases will be conducting a 'streetwise' survey to further ascertain what the community considers a priority for action.

    Delhi's new initiative to improve healthcare in the community 2009

  • Seems to me that as "streetwise" as some of us are in some ways, we're still surprisingly trusting in others.

    Devil's Advocate 1 Dinosaur 2007

  • I worked with inner city kids for about three years after high school, and many had the tough "streetwise" bravado that Jason talked about above.

    manhattan math - Anil Dash 2002

  • It was July 11, his 95th birthday, and he was being straddled from behind by a man in a bright cobalt-blue suit, with a salt-and-pepper mustache and the kind of streetwise Italian-American accent that persists more vigorously in acting classes than on the streets of Soho.

    The Battle Over a Barnes & Noble in Bridgehampton 2001

  • The way he said the word 'streetwise' made her tense as though sustaining a blow, as though some how the words had held an insult, a gibe; and yet when she looked at him the grey eyes were still smiling, the relaxed bulk of the male body carelessly at ease, so that she knew she must have imagined the toughness, the threat which she had momentarily felt lay beneath the words.

    A Time to Dream Jordan, Penny 1991

  • The way he said the word 'streetwise' made her tense as though sustaining a blow, as though some how the words had held an insult, a gibe; and yet when she looked at him the grey eyes were still smiling, the relaxed bulk of the male body carelessly at ease, so that she knew she must have imagined the toughness, the threat which she had momentarily felt lay beneath the words.

    A Time to Dream Jordan, Penny 1991

  • WASHINGTON -- Republican Party chairman Michael Steele defended his stewardship of party affairs Monday and dismissed criticism as the talk of GOP figures uncomfortable with his "streetwise" managerial style.

    TheDenverChannel.com - Local News 2010

  • WASHINGTON -- Republican Party chairman Michael Steele defended his stewardship of party affairs Monday and dismissed criticism as the talk of GOP figures uncomfortable with his "streetwise" managerial style.

    TheDenverChannel.com - Local News 2010

  • WASHINGTON -- Republican Party chairman Michael Steele defended his stewardship of party affairs Monday and dismissed criticism as the talk of GOP figures uncomfortable with his "streetwise" managerial style.

    TheDenverChannel.com - Local News 2010

  • WASHINGTON -- Republican Party chairman Michael Steele defended his stewardship of party affairs Monday and dismissed criticism as the talk of GOP figures uncomfortable with his "streetwise" managerial style.

    TheDenverChannel.com - Local News 2010

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