STREET SMARTS definition | Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of street smarts in English

street smarts
noun [ plural ]
US
us
/ˈstriːt ˌsmɑːrts/ uk
/ˈstriːt ˌsmɑːts/
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the ability to manage or succeed in difficult or dangerous situations, especially in big towns or cities:
You don't have the street smarts to last ten minutes in New York without getting ripped off.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Wise and sensible
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
(Definition of street smarts from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of street smarts

street smarts
Both men rose, survived and thrived in top posts in cutthroat fields, united by brilliance and street smarts.
From ABC News
Teach blathers with authority, for he has immense faith in his street smarts.
From The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
Common sense and street smarts can go a long way toward reducing the chances of being victimized, he said.
From NOLA.com
He is nothing, however, if not dogged and possesses street smarts.
From OCRegister
Those book and street smarts come from somewhere.
From USA TODAY
Oh's street smarts were put to the test as he helped his family escape.
From CBS News
The boys had developed independence, grit, salesmanship and hard-won street smarts.
From TIME
Just as important, they had street smarts.
From NPR
You understand all the language, the fancy talk, and in the end what you don't get is street smarts because you're busy in the classroom.
From Business Insider
There's a lot to consider, but you get street smarts when you're traveling on your own.
From Huffington Post
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of street smarts?
 
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Translations of street smarts

in Chinese (Traditional)
（尤指在都市的）生存能力，適應能力…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（尤指在都市的）生存能力，适应能力…
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