wiseacre - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: wiseacre

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

wise·a·cre

Audio Help [wahyz-ey-ker] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a person who possesses or affects to possess great wisdom.

wise guy.

[Origin: 1585–95; < MD wijssager prophet, trans. of MHG wīssage, late OHG wīssago, by popular etym. equiv. to wīs wise + sago sayer, from earlier wīzzago wise person; c. OE wītega, akin to wit²

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
wiseacre

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

wise·a·cre Audio Help (wīz'ā'kər) Pronunciation Key
n. Slang
A person regarded as being disagreeably egotistical and self-assured.

[Alteration by folk etymology from Middle Dutch wijsseggher, soothsayer, translation of Middle High German wīssage, from Old High German wīssago, seer, alteration (influenced by forasago, sayer beforehand, prophet) of wīzago, from wīzag, knowledgeable; see weid- in Indo-European roots.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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 come through confusion with obsolete Eng. segger "sayer," which also had a sense of "braggart" (c.1440).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

wiseacre
noun
an upstart who makes conceited, sardonic, insolent comments [syn: wise guy]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wiseacre

Wise"a*cre\, n. [OD. wijssegger or G. weissager a foreteller, prophet, from weissagen to foretell, to prophesy, OHG. w[=i]ssag?n, corrupted (as if compounded of the words for wise and say) fr. w[=i]zzag?n, fr. w[=i]zzag? a prophet, akin to AS. w[=i]tiga, w[=i]tga, from the root of E. wit. See Wit, v.]

1. A learned or wise man. [Obs.]

Pythagoras learned much . . . becoming a mighty wiseacre. --Leland.

2. One who makes undue pretensions to wisdom; a would-be-wise person; hence, in contempt, a simpleton; a dunce.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

wiseacre

wiseacre was Word of the Day on September 17, 2001.

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