wiseacre

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   old-fashioned or informal: a person who pretends to be knowledgeable or makes conceitedly clever remarks

   Some wiseacre interrupted the guide to correct a date that was already right.

From Middle Dutch wijssegger, 'soothsayer,' reshaped in English under the influence of wise. Its Germanic relatives include Old High German wizzago and Old English witega, 'prophet.' The original learned or prophetic sense became ironic, producing the modern know-it-all sense.

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