wiseacre

noun

1. One who feigns knowledge or cleverness; one who is wisecracking; an insolent upstart.

   “That other class of wiseacres who twist prophecy in such a manner as to make it promise the destruction and desolation of the same city, use judgement just as bad, since the city is in a very flourishing condition now, unhappily for them.”

   “But noooooo! Some wiseacre “expert” will patronizingly explain that because gymnast Kim Zmeskal’s left little toenail was off center by the length of an eyelash, the judges will be forced to dock a tenth of a point from her score.”

2. (obsolete)A learned or wise man.

   “A fool's paradise is better than a wiseacre's purgatory.”

   “Peter Gower, a Grecian, journied for cunning in Egypt, and in Syria, and in every land where the Venetians had planted Masonry; and winning entrance into all lodges of Masons, he learned much, and returned and dwelt in Grecia Magna; watching and becoming a mighty wiseacre, and greatly renowned, and here he framed a grat lodge at Groton, (Crotona. Mr. Locke,) and maked many Masons; wherefrom, in process of time, the art passed into England.”

   “At their village the woman consulted the local wiseacre, explaining the difficulties her son-in-law was creating.”

verb

1. To act like a wiseacre; to wisecrack.