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Synonyms

wiseacre

[wahyz-ey-ker] Origin

wise·a·cre

[wahyz-ey-ker]
noun
1.
a person who possesses or affects to possess great wisdom.

Origin:
1585–95; < Middle Dutch wijssager prophet, translation of Middle High German wīssage, late Old High German wīssago, by popular etymology equivalent to wīs wise + sago sayer, from earlier wīzzago wise person; cognate with Old English wītega, akin to wit2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Wiseacre is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
wiseacre (ˈwaɪzˌeɪkə)
 
n
1.  a person who wishes to seem wise
2.  a wise person: often used facetiously or contemptuously
 
[C16: from Middle Dutch wijsseggher soothsayer; related to Old High German wīssaga, German Weissager. See wise1, say]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

wiseacre
1595, partial translation of M.Du. wijssegger "soothsayer" (with no derogatory connotation), probably altered by association with M.Du. segger "sayer" from O.H.G. wizzago "prophet," from wizzan "to know," from P.Gmc. *wit "know." The depreciatory sense of "one who pretends to know everything" may have
EXPAND
come through confusion with obsolete Eng. segger "sayer," which also had a sense of "braggart" (c.1440).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

wiseacre definition


  1. n.
    a jerk; a wiseguy. : We've got ways of dealing with a wiseacre like you!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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