smarten (up)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for smarten (up)
Verb
  • Handlers at the 2024 National Dog Show Presented by Purina spoke exclusively with PEOPLE about getting different breeds ready for the big event and the amount of primping required.
    Marina Watts, People.com, 28 Nov. 2024
  • Photographed by Clémence Polès The next couple of hours felt like a rom-com montage—a bunch of girls playing, primping, and posing for pictures.
    Jessie Heyman, Vogue, 15 Oct. 2024
Verb
  • Always one for innovation, MacKenzie-Childs has been known to doll up its hero products in a vast variety of designs to suit every last stylistic preference.
    Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 17 July 2025
  • Toddler girl wearing striped shorts and vest set propping her baby doll up against a wall to take a photo.
    Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 July 2025
Verb
  • Hard to compare anything to a president of the most powerful country in the world preening about getting a $400 million jet from a little country on the other side of the world.
    Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 17 May 2025
  • Much like his previous turn in Purple Noon, as Jean-Paul Delon embodies the preening narcissist whose barely concealed vulnerability and jealousy lead him to murder a rival.
    Erik Morse, Vogue, 26 June 2025
Verb
  • Many slippers on this list can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.
    Kevin Brouillard, Travel + Leisure, 30 July 2025
  • The model, who shares Dream with Rob Kardashian, and her daughter both dressed up as Princess Jasmine for the big event.
    Jen Juneau, People.com, 29 July 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Smarten (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smarten%20%28up%29. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

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