smart-alecky
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]smart aleck + -y
Adjective
[edit]smart-alecky (comparative more smart-alecky, superlative most smart-alecky)
- Having the quality of a smart aleck; rude, disrespectful.
- 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 11, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings[1], New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 63–64:
- The Katzenjammer Kids were fun because they made the adults look stupid. But they were a little too smart-alecky for my taste.