Meanings
plural smart contracts
- businessA software protocol that is capable of automatically enforcing terms agreed upon in a contract.
These are only a few examples of ways you can secure your smart contracts. The best thing to do to create a secure smart contract is to find an external auditor.
2019, Kevin Solorio, Randall Kanna, David H. Hoover, Hands-On Smart Contract Development with Solidity and Ethereum, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 2401 more example
Technically speaking a smart contract is a self-enforcing agreement between parties, mutually unknown and otherwise anonymous counterparts, which is capable of executing the rules automatically in satisfying certain conditions.
2020, Miadreza Shafie-khah, Blockchain-Based Smart Grids, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 112
Origin
Coined by American computer scientist Nick Szabo in 1996.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 智能合約 /智能合约
- 智能合約 /智能合约 (zhìnéng héyuē)software protocol
Finnish älysopimus
- älysopimussoftware protocol
Cite this entry
smart contract. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smart%20contract
“smart contract.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smart%20contract. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “smart contract,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smart%20contract.
Source: smart contract on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.