smartly

S1M3A1R1T1L1Y4
/ˈsmɑː(ɹ)tli/

adverb

With a fine or fashionable appearance.

“smartly dressed”

Less commonScrabble 12Word of the Day · Oct 6, 2026

Meanings

adverbsmartly (comparative more smartly, superlative most smartly)

comparative more smartly · superlative most smartly

  1. With a fine or fashionable appearance.

    smartly dressed

  2. Quickly.

    He set smartly off towards the shops […]

    1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London
    1 more example

    She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realizing that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

    1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter II (Burglary), page 378, column 1

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbin a clever manner

Similar

adverbwith vigor; in a vigorous manner

Similar

adverbin a smart manner

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishsmertly
  2. Englishsmartly

From Middle English smertly; equivalent to smart + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

smartly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smartly

MLA

“smartly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smartly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “smartly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smartly.

Source: smartly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.