Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A person regarded as being disagreeably egotistical and self-assured.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A sayer of wise things; a learned or wise man.
- noun One who makes pretensions to great wisdom; hence, in contempt or irony, a would-be wise person; a serious simpleton or dunce.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A learned or wise man.
- noun One who makes undue pretensions to wisdom; a would-be-wise person; hence, in contempt, a simpleton; a dunce.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One who
feigns knowledge orcleverness ; aninsolent upstart . - noun obsolete A learned or wise man.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an upstart who makes conceited, sardonic, insolent comments
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The book follows the usual jocular style of the "For Dummies" series (does the publisher have a special "wiseacre" editor?) including the cartoons and the usual "Part of Tens".
Photofocus scottbourne 2010
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In the golden age of the family sitcom, children with the exception of wiseacre Rusty from Make Room for Daddy didn't zing their parents like Borsht-belt comics.
Donald Liebenson: Boomer DVD: Dennis Mitchell: Still a Menace After All These Years Donald Liebenson 2011
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Swept into the orient as we learned, no one was too alarmed when some wiseacre in the back of the room had the good sense and quick whit to break out some hand cymbals.
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He also made regular wiseacre appearances on a little VH1 show called Best Week Ever spoiler: the best week ever was June 18 to 24, 1995.
Steven Shehori: Criminally Overlooked Albums: The Top Part by John Mulaney Steven Shehori 2011
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Note the word "absolute" that the wiseacre slipped in there.
Archive 2009-12-01 2009
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Labour's electoral system may not be a good one, but the big guns – from private financial donors, to wiseacre columnists, newspaper editorialisers and party grandees – almost all lined up for David, against Ed. The pro-Ed camp in the press has pretty much consisted of the People newspaper and three or four of us columnists.
Under Ed Miliband's lead, Labour's new generation must step up Jackie Ashley 2010
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There was a gang of wiseacre boys who defiled the sacrament of confirmation—the Catholic equivalent of the bar and bat mitzvah—by choosing the silliest saint they could find, "Aloysius," for the confirmation name that the bishop would announce when it was their turn to get their cheeks slapped.
My One-Term Presidency Con Chapman 2011
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In the golden age of the family sitcom, children with the exception of wiseacre Rusty from Make Room for Daddy didn't zing their parents like Borsht-belt comics.
Donald Liebenson: Boomer DVD: Dennis Mitchell: Still a Menace After All These Years Donald Liebenson 2011
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Hunky wiseacre Ryan Reynolds has announced that his next project is entitled ‘Buried’, a film about a civilian contractor in Iraq who gets captured and buried alive with only a cell phone, candle, knife … … and his wits yo!
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In the golden age of the family sitcom, children with the exception of wiseacre Rusty from Make Room for Daddy didn't zing their parents like Borsht-belt comics.
Donald Liebenson: Boomer DVD: Dennis Mitchell: Still a Menace After All These Years Donald Liebenson 2011
arby commented on the word wiseacre
How the hell is this word pronounced, anyway? Does it rhyme with baker or cracker?
July 6, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word wiseacre
dictionary.com says WAHYZ-ey-ker
July 6, 2007
reesetee commented on the word wiseacre
Ooh...but "wise-akker" (rhyming with "cracker") sounds pretty good too.
July 6, 2007
uselessness commented on the word wiseacre
Mmm, I could sure go for some cheese and cracres right about now.
July 6, 2007
reesetee commented on the word wiseacre
Wiseakker.
July 6, 2007
yarb commented on the word wiseacre
Wise-aker, shurely?
Sometimes Wordie turns my whole world upside down.
October 16, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word wiseacre
I love wiseacre for the same reason as I love roseate. It's that weird "ea" thing going on in the middle there.
October 17, 2007
npydyuan commented on the word wiseacre
Yea, the ea is beautiful!
October 17, 2007
reesetee commented on the word wiseacre
Yarb, you say that like it's a bad thing. ;-)
October 17, 2007
milosrdenstvi commented on the word wiseacre
Came across this word in an English translation of Comenius's Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart, an allegory. The protagonist is constantly being told not to be a wiseacre by the people who lead him around, showing him the attractions of the world, when he questions their lasting value.
August 15, 2008
jimbobaggins commented on the word wiseacre
A person with an affectation of wisdom.
September 9, 2008
hagendas commented on the word wiseacre
Alteration by folk etymology from Middle Dutch wijsseggher, soothsayer.
January 10, 2009
gulyasrobi commented on the word wiseacre
"wise-acre" in HU = "seggfej" (arse-head)
September 14, 2012