SMARTEN Definition & Meaning

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smarten

[ smahr-tn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

to make more trim or spruce; improve in appearance (usually followed by up ):
Try to smarten up your outfit.
to make brisker, as a pace.
to sharpen the judgment or broaden the experience of; educate (usually followed by up ):
Someone has to smarten him up about dealing with people.

verb phrase

1. to groom oneself:
  to smarten up before dinner.
2. to become aware of one's mistakes, shortcomings, etc., and make efforts to correct them:
  If you don't smarten up, you're going to be out of a job.

smarten

/ ˈ��ɑː��ə�� /

verb

intr to make oneself neater
tr to make quicker or livelier

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of smarten¹

First recorded in 1805–15; smart + -en ¹

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

And then, an off-handed comment from my math teacher: After a group of us — me included — failed to grasp a concept, he coldly told us, “You won’t even get into culinary school if you don’t smarten up.”

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“They’re just so good on the power play. So let’s just smarten up in that area.”

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In Jay-Z’s song 2021 hit “U Don’t Know,” he raps, “That’s another difference that’s between me and them / Heh, I smarten up, open the market up / One million, two million, three million, four / In 18 months, 80 million more / Now add that number up with the one I said before”

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Part of the report published already last week also laid out a "game changing" blueprint for an evolved financial system where central bank digital currencies and tokenised banking assets speed up and smarten up transactions and global trade.

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Maybe when he got to be ten, like me, he’d smarten up.

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