"wisenheimer" meaning in English

See wisenheimer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈwaɪz(ə)nˌhaɪməɹ/ [US] Forms: wisenheimers [plural]
Etymology: First used in the early 20th c. From wise + the German demonymic ending -enheimer. The form might be an alteration of the similarly formed and synonymous German Schlauberger (19th c.), possibly influenced by Pappenheimer (“person known for some behaviour; crony”) and/or involving a pun on Waisenheim (“orphanage”). On the other hand, the surname Weisenheimer actually exists, both in Germany and the US. It goes back to the towns of Weisenheim am Berg and Weisenheim am Sand (both in Palatinate). Etymology templates: {{C.|20}} 20th c., {{m|en|wise}} wise, {{der|en|de|-}} German, {{m+|de|Schlauberger}} German Schlauberger, {{m|de|Pappenheimer|t=person known for some behaviour; crony}} Pappenheimer (“person known for some behaviour; crony”), {{m|de|Waisenheim|t=orphanage}} Waisenheim (“orphanage”), {{m|de|Weisenheimer}} Weisenheimer Head templates: {{en-noun}} wisenheimer (plural wisenheimers)
  1. (chiefly US, informal, mildly humorous) A self-assertive and arrogant person; a know-it-all or smart aleck. Wikipedia link: Weisenheim am Berg, Weisenheim am Sand Tags: US, humorous, informal, mildly Categories (topical): People Synonyms: wise guy, smart aleck, know-it-all
    Sense id: en-wisenheimer-en-noun-nJRuHWya Categories (other): American English, English entries with topic categories using raw markup

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for wisenheimer meaning in English (3.5kB)

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        "2": "Schlauberger"
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      "expansion": "German Schlauberger",
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        "1": "de",
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      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
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      "expansion": "Waisenheim (“orphanage”)",
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      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "Weisenheimer"
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      "expansion": "Weisenheimer",
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  "etymology_text": "First used in the early 20th c. From wise + the German demonymic ending -enheimer.\nThe form might be an alteration of the similarly formed and synonymous German Schlauberger (19th c.), possibly influenced by Pappenheimer (“person known for some behaviour; crony”) and/or involving a pun on Waisenheim (“orphanage”). On the other hand, the surname Weisenheimer actually exists, both in Germany and the US. It goes back to the towns of Weisenheim am Berg and Weisenheim am Sand (both in Palatinate).",
  "forms": [
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      "args": {},
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, Sinclair Lewis, “24”, in Babbitt",
          "text": "There was an auto salesman in here yesterday that claimed you could always tell a fellow's class by the car he drove, but I says to him, 'Don't be silly,' I says; 'the wisenheimers grab a look at a fellow's nails when they want to tell if he's a tin-horn or a real gent!\"'",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2010, J. Bolton-Fasman, \"Debating Salvation: A smart aleck finds his niche\" The Jerusalem Post 11/11/2010 On-line, accessed November 13, 2010 (quotations are from Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate by Mark Oppenheimer (Hardcover - Apr 13, 2010))",
          "text": "\"It wasn’t until I read Mark Oppenheimer’s charming memoir that I had an apt description of my son: “…a smart aleck is a smart guy gone bad, a boy whose smartness is being used stupidly, while a wisenheimer actually lacks wisdom. He might not be cruel, he might not mean harm, but a wisenheimer is a smart guy you wish had a little less smarts.”"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A self-assertive and arrogant person; a know-it-all or smart aleck."
      ],
      "id": "en-wisenheimer-en-noun-nJRuHWya",
      "links": [
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "know-it-all",
          "know-it-all"
        ],
        [
          "smart aleck",
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        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly US, informal, mildly humorous) A self-assertive and arrogant person; a know-it-all or smart aleck."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wise guy"
        },
        {
          "word": "smart aleck"
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        {
          "word": "know-it-all"
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      "ipa": "/ˈwaɪz(ə)nˌhaɪməɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wisenheimer"
}
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "name": "m"
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  "etymology_text": "First used in the early 20th c. From wise + the German demonymic ending -enheimer.\nThe form might be an alteration of the similarly formed and synonymous German Schlauberger (19th c.), possibly influenced by Pappenheimer (“person known for some behaviour; crony”) and/or involving a pun on Waisenheim (“orphanage”). On the other hand, the surname Weisenheimer actually exists, both in Germany and the US. It goes back to the towns of Weisenheim am Berg and Weisenheim am Sand (both in Palatinate).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wisenheimers",
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wisenheimer (plural wisenheimers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, Sinclair Lewis, “24”, in Babbitt",
          "text": "There was an auto salesman in here yesterday that claimed you could always tell a fellow's class by the car he drove, but I says to him, 'Don't be silly,' I says; 'the wisenheimers grab a look at a fellow's nails when they want to tell if he's a tin-horn or a real gent!\"'",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, J. Bolton-Fasman, \"Debating Salvation: A smart aleck finds his niche\" The Jerusalem Post 11/11/2010 On-line, accessed November 13, 2010 (quotations are from Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate by Mark Oppenheimer (Hardcover - Apr 13, 2010))",
          "text": "\"It wasn’t until I read Mark Oppenheimer’s charming memoir that I had an apt description of my son: “…a smart aleck is a smart guy gone bad, a boy whose smartness is being used stupidly, while a wisenheimer actually lacks wisdom. He might not be cruel, he might not mean harm, but a wisenheimer is a smart guy you wish had a little less smarts.”"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A self-assertive and arrogant person; a know-it-all or smart aleck."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "self",
          "self"
        ],
        [
          "assertive",
          "assertive"
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        [
          "arrogant",
          "arrogant"
        ],
        [
          "know-it-all",
          "know-it-all"
        ],
        [
          "smart aleck",
          "smart aleck"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly US, informal, mildly humorous) A self-assertive and arrogant person; a know-it-all or smart aleck."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wise guy"
        },
        {
          "word": "smart aleck"
        },
        {
          "word": "know-it-all"
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      ]
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      "ipa": "/ˈwaɪz(ə)nˌhaɪməɹ/",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wisenheimer"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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