wiseacre

English

Etymology

a 1600, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Dutch wijssegger (“soothsayer”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German wīzzago, wīzago (“wise man, prophet, soothsayer”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītagō (“wise one; prophet”). Cognate with Old English wītega (“wise man, prophet”). See also Weissager (“soothsayer, seer”).

Noun

wiseacre (plural wiseacres)

1. One who feigns knowledge or cleverness; one who is wisecracking; an insolent upstart.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:know-it-all

   • 1869, Mark Twain, the Innocents Abroad, Random House (2003), pages 298-299

     That other class of wiseacres who twist prophecy in such a manner as to make it promise the destruction and desolation of the same city, use judgement just as bad, since the city is in a very flourishing condition now, unhappily for them.

2. (obsolete) A learned or wise man.
   • Leland

     Pythagoras learned much […] becoming a mighty wiseacre.

Derived terms

• wiseacring

Translations

one who feigns knowledge or cleverness

• German: Klugscheißer (de) m, Besserwisser (de) m, Neunmalkluger m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: saccente (it) m
• Russian: у́мник (ru) m (úmnik), всезна́йка (ru) m or f (vseznájka)