😏 Cheeky or smart 😏 A cheeky person

alecky

9.9

A person who acts cheeky and tries to be clever in a way that annoys others

noun

Offensive

: sabelotodo

Her smart-alecky attitude made it difficult for her to be taken seriously.
smart-alecky

Examples

He always has a smart-alecky response ready for any question.
"I felt all smart-alecky saying it, and I grinned a little.

Fiction book (2002)
During the debate, he made several smart-alecky comments that annoyed the judges.

Synonyms

smart-ass

vsalecky

Offensive

36 9.3

A person who annoys others by saying sarcastic or rude things

is a general informal disapproval of cheeky behaviour rather than specific attitude

smart arse

vsalecky

Offensive

32 9.4

A person who says clever things to annoy or upset others

is the same informal disapproving label but less focused on explicit rudeness

smarty

vsalecky

Offensive

32 7.7

A person who acts like they know everything and annoys others

is a harsher informal term that emphasises disapproval more than mere cleverness

smart aleck

vsalecky

Offensive

8 7.5

A person who acts as if they know everything and annoys others

is a disapproving informal label for cheeky behaviour rather than active provocation

Antonyms

serious

∞ 1.4

Calm and focused, not playful or joking

respectful

146 1.1

Being polite and showing admiration for someone

How Cheeky

insolent

21 7.1

wise aleck

Offensive

1 8.1

alecky

Offensive

9.9

teaser

Informal

9 4.1

joker

35 2.4

Surface Forms

alecky singular

aleckies plural

Morphology

alecky = aleck (transparent) = aleck + y

The noun sense is derivable from 'aleck' + '-y', forming an informal label meaning 'a person characterized by being an aleck'.

Etymology

Alecky as a noun comes from the phrase smart-aleck, originally meaning a person who is too 'clever' in a rude way. Think of a real or imagined Alec who always gives cheeky answers, so an alecky is a cheeky or annoying person.