If someone says you are smart, what do they mean? Is it a good thing or something bad? The answer is not as easy as you might think. This is because the word smart has many meanings.
For example, someone could say you look smart. That means they like what you are wearing .But if something is smart, it can be unkind or hurtful.If you fall down, you might shout, "Ow! That smarts!" Or if a friend says something that hurts your feelings, you can say you are smarting from the hurtful words. In fact, maybe that person is no longer your friend.
But the most common meaning of smart is to be intelligent（聪明的）. If someone is smart as a whip（鞭子）, they are able to think very quickly.
However, different people have different ways of being smart. Some people are considered street smart. They may not have a strong education. But they are good at dealing with people and problems in the real world.
Other people might be book smart. This means they have spent many years in school. But they may not be so smart when dealing with people or real-world problems.
This definition(定义) of smart can also be used as a verb（动词）. If you smart off to the wrong people, they could hit you in the face.
If someone calls you a "Smart Aleck," it might sound like a good thing. But it's not. Smart Alecks are people who think they are smarter than they really are. For a long time, word historians thought Smart Aleck was a general term, not a specific person.
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