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Glite Dictionary
🧑‍💼 To look neater 🤖 To improve features
to smarten up

to smarten up

4.1
Add new parts or programs to a device so it can do more and work better
  • phrasal verb
  • Specialized
translation icon : modernizar
  • The software update will smarten up the app by adding predictive analytics.

Examples

  • They smartened up the factory last year with sensors and automated control systems.

  • The city plans on smartening up its bus network with adaptive schedules to reduce delays.

  • They need to smarten up their website!

  • Can you smarten up this presentation?

  • The latest upgrade will smarten up the entire system, making it more efficient and user-friendly.

  • To improve productivity, the company decided to smarten up its workflow processes with new software tools.

  • We need to smarten up our service to meet the increasing demands of our customers.

Synonyms

to update
vsto smarten up
451 2.8

Make something more modern by adding new information or changes

focuses on adding features that make it more capable or intelligent
to modernize
vsto smarten up
51 4.0

To make something more up to date using new tools or ideas

emphasizes adding capability and intelligent features rather than just newness
to soup up
vsto smarten up
  • Informal
4 6.4

Make a car or motorcycle run faster and work better

focuses more on adding intelligence and wider capability than just power
to polish up
vsto smarten up
  • Informal
4 3.5

Make something better by practicing or fixing it

aims instead to add functional features that improve capability and intelligence
to upgear
vsto smarten up
8.4

Make a plan or way of working stronger so it works better

applies to devices and adds capability and intelligent functions
to hot up
vsto smarten up
  • Jargon
8.3

To make an engine or machine more powerful for racing

is broader, adding smart features and capability beyond pure power changes

Antonyms

to degrade
49 5.1

To make something worse in quality or value

to dumb down
  • Informal
15 5.3

Make something simpler and less detailed so more people understand it

How Intelligent

to smarten up
  • Specialized
4.1
to automate
52 4.0
to enhance
424 4.0
upgrade
141 3.5
to update
451 2.8

Surface Forms

smarten up infinitive
smartened up past
smartened up past participle
smartening up present participle
smartens up third person singular

Morphology

smarten + up

The verb is largely compositional: 'smarten' (make smart/improve) combined with the particle 'up' (indicating improvement) yields a general meaning of making something better or smarter, which a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer. However, the specific technical sense of adding features to a device or system to make it 'intelligent' is a metaphorical extension from appearance/improvement and may not be fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Smarten up for machines comes from the idea of giving something a small 'brain' or new tools so it becomes smart, and up shows it gets better. Imagine adding a sensor or helpful software to a bus or phone so it can learn and work better, so it means 'to improve a device or system to make it work better'.