🧠 Practical intelligence 🤕 To hurt 😣 A sharp pain

smarts

45 4.1

Practical cleverness for solving everyday problems

noun
/smɑrts/

Informal

: inteligencia práctica

To succeed in business, you need more than just skills; you also need smarts to navigate challenges.

If you're so smart nerd, put your smarts to use nerd.

Examples

She says what's most important, smarts, experience or luck?
I have been using smarts that I obtained from YouTube.
However, they often lacked "School Smarts."

Academic text (2008)
If you're so smart nerd, put your smarts to use nerd.

FLAGRANT
His ability to solve problems quickly shows that he has a lot of smarts in practical situations.
People often underestimate the value of street smarts when making decisions in life.

Synonyms

wisdom

vssmarts

556 2.7

To use what you know and have learned to make good choices and give good advice

is more about immediate clever action than long‑term wise judgment

intelligence

vssmarts

388 3.0

Ability to learn, understand, and use knowledge to solve problems

applies that general ability specifically to practical life situations

wit

vssmarts

120 4.0

Ability to think quickly and say clever, amusing things

uses quick thinking mainly to manage practical, real-world situations

wits

vssmarts

75 3.5

A mind that thinks quickly and makes sensible decisions

stresses practical cleverness applied in real life problems

brilliance

vssmarts

55 4.1

Great skill in thinking that makes new or useful ideas

is more modest, focusing on useful cleverness rather than exceptional talent

ingenuity

vssmarts

50 6.1

Clever new thinking that finds solutions to problems and makes useful things

centers on practical, everyday cleverness rather than inventive creativity

cleverness

vssmarts

16 2.8

Quick thinking that finds smart new ideas and solutions

is more focused on everyday problem handling rather than general inventiveness

brainpower

vssmarts

7 3.4

Mental ability to think and solve problems

highlights the use of that capacity in everyday practical contexts

intellect

vssmarts

7 6.0

A person who thinks clearly and deeply about ideas and problems

is less academic and more about using cleverness in daily life

smartness

vssmarts

2 4.0

The ability to think quickly and act cleverly

leans more toward using cleverness specifically to handle real situations

sharpness

vssmarts

2 4.1

A quick mind that understands things clearly

is more about practical streetwise cleverness than pure mental acuity

mother wit

vssmarts

1 9.9

Natural practical sense a person is born with, not learned at school

is more about active cleverness used to handle situations

wiseness

vssmarts

1 7.5

Being experienced and able to make good choices

focuses more on quick practical cleverness than seasoned judgment

sensibleness

vssmarts

1 4.6

Being careful and reasonable when making choices

focuses more on quick, situational cleverness than steady good judgment

braininess

vssmarts

1 5.2

A quality of being very smart and thinking quickly

narrows that cleverness to hands-on, practical problem solving

wittedness

vssmarts

1 7.4

Thinking quickly and understanding things easily

applies that quickness specifically to solving real-life practical problems

canniness

vssmarts

1 7.5

Being careful and clever when making decisions about money

is broader, covering quick practical cleverness beyond transactional decisions

Antonyms

ignorance

275 3.9

Not knowing about something or how it works

foolishness

50 2.7

A lack of good sense or careful thought that causes bad choices

Compounds

street smarts

Informal

11 5.6

Knowing how to stay safe and avoid danger in a city

How Smart

genius

694 4.9

brilliance

55 4.1

smarts

Informal

45 4.1

cleverness

16 2.8

dullness

1 3.8

Surface Forms

smart singular

smarts plural

Morphology

smarts = smart (transparent) = smart + s

The noun 'smarts' (practical intelligence) is directly built from 'smart' (clever) with a plural/collective '-s' indicating qualities or abilities.

Etymology

Smarts (cleverness) comes from the same idea of being 'sharp' — the old sense of smart meant a quick, sharp feeling, and that image moved to the mind; so having 'smarts' means having a quick, practical kind of cleverness.