Neat vs. Smart — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Neat and Smart
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Compare with Definitions
Neat
Arranged in a tidy way; in good order
The books had been stacked up in neat piles
Smart
(of a person) clean, tidy, and well dressed
You look very smart
Neat
Done with or demonstrating skill or efficiency
A neat bit of deduction
Smart
Having or showing a quick-witted intelligence
If he was that smart he would never have been tricked
Neat
(of liquid, especially spirits) not diluted or mixed with anything else
He drank neat Scotch
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Smart
Quick; brisk
He set off at a smart pace
Neat
Very good; excellent
It was really neat seeing the city
Smart
(of part of the body) feel a sharp stinging pain
Her legs were scratched and smarting
Neat
A bovine animal.
Smart
Sharp stinging pain
The smart of the recent cuts
Neat
Orderly and clean; tidy
A neat office.
A neat desk.
Smart
Intelligence; acumen
I don't think I have the smarts for it
Neat
Habitually tidy or well-organized
Was lucky to have a neat roommate.
Smart
Having or showing intelligence; bright.
Neat
Marked by ingenuity and skill; adroit
A neat turn of phrase.
Smart
Canny and shrewd in dealings with others
A smart negotiator.
Neat
Not diluted or mixed with other substances
Neat whiskey.
Smart
Amusingly clever; witty
A smart quip.
A lively, smart conversation.
Neat
Left after all deductions; net
Neat profit.
Smart
Impertinent; insolent
That's enough of your smart talk.
Neat
(Slang) Wonderful; terrific
That was a neat party.
Smart
Energetic or quick in movement
A smart pace.
Neat
A cow or other domestic bovine animal.
Smart
Fashionable; elegant
A smart suit.
A smart restaurant.
The smart set.
Neat
Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.
She has very neat hair.
Smart
Capable of making adjustments that resemble those resulting from human decisions, chiefly by means of electronic sensors and computer technology
Smart missiles.
Smart machines.
Neat
Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.
I like my whisky neat.
Smart
To cause a sharp, usually superficial, stinging pain
The slap delivered to my face smarted.
Neat
(chemistry) Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.
The Arbuzov reaction is performed by adding the bromide to the phosphite, neat.
The molecular beam was neat acetylene.
Smart
To be the location of such a pain
The incision on my leg smarts.
Neat
(archaic) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
Smart
To feel such a pain.
Neat
Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.
The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.
Smart
To suffer acutely, as from mental distress, wounded feelings, or remorse
"No creature smarts so little as a fool" (Alexander Pope).
Neat
Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.
Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
Smart
Sharp pain or anguish
The smart of the wound.
Neat
Facile; missing complexity or details in the favor of convenience or simplicity.
Courts should not reduce this case to a neat set of legal rules.
Smart
Smarts(Slang) Intelligence; expertise
A reporter with a lot of smarts.
Neat
Good, excellent, desirable.
Hey, neat convertible, man.
Smart
(intransitive) To hurt or sting.
After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"
Neat
Used to signify a job well done.
Smart
(transitive) To cause a smart or sting in.
Neat
Used to signify approval.
Smart
(intransitive) To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
Neat
(informal) An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.
Smart
Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
Neat
(archaic) A bull or cow.
Smart
(informal) Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.
Neat
(archaic) Cattle collectively.
Smart
Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).
Smart car
Neat
Cattle of the genus Bos, as distinguished from horses, sheep, and goats; an animal of the genus Bos; as, a neat's tongue; a neat's foot.
Wherein the herds[men] were keeping of their neat.
The steer, the heifer, and the calfAre all called neat.
A neat and a sheep of his own.
Smart
Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.
A smart outfit
You look smart in that business suit.
Neat
Of or pertaining to the genus Bos, or to cattle of that genus; as, neat cattle.
Smart
Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.
He became tired of his daughter's sarcasm and smart remarks.
Don't get smart with me!
Neat
Free from that which soils, defiles, or disorders; clean; cleanly; tidy.
If you were to see her, you would wonder what poor body it was that was so surprisingly neat and clean.
Smart
Sudden and intense.
Neat
Free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; simple and becoming; pleasing with simplicity; tasteful; chaste; as, a neat style; a neat dress.
Smart
Causing sharp pain; stinging.
Neat
Free from admixture or adulteration; good of its kind; as, neat brandy; to drink one's vodka neat.
Smart
Sharp; keen; poignant.
A smart pain
Neat
Excellent in character, skill, or performance, etc.; nice; finished; adroit; as, a neat design; a neat thief.
Smart
Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.
He raised his voice, and it hurt her feelings right smart.
That cast on his leg chaffs him right smart.
Neat
Clean or orderly;
Her neat dress
A neat room
Smart
(archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
Neat
Showing care in execution;
Neat homework
Neat handwriting
Smart
(archaic) Pretentious; showy; spruce.
A smart gown
Neat
Free from what is tawdry or unbecoming;
A neat style
A neat set of rules
She hated to have her neat plans upset
Smart
(archaic) Brisk; fresh.
A smart breeze
Neat
Free from clumsiness; precisely or deftly executed;
He landed a clean left on his opponent's cheek
A clean throw
The neat exactness of the surgeon's knife
Smart
A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
Neat
Very good;
He did a bully job
A neat sports car
Had a great time at the party
You look simply smashing
Smart
Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
Neat
Without water;
Took his whiskey neat
Smart
Smart-money.
Smart
A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
Smart
To feel a lively, pungent local pain; - said of some part of the body as the seat of irritation; as, my finger smarts; these wounds smart.
Smart
To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to suffer; to feel the sting of evil; as, the team is still smarting from its loss of the championship.
No creature smarts so little as a fool.
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it.
Smart
To cause a smart in.
Smart
Quick, pungent, lively pain; a pricking local pain, as the pain from puncture by nettles.
Smart
Severe, pungent pain of mind; pungent grief; as, the smart of affliction.
To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart.
Counsel mitigates the greatest smart.
Smart
A fellow who affects smartness, briskness, and vivacity; a dandy.
Smart
Smart money (see below).
Smart
Causing a smart; pungent; pricking; as, a smart stroke or taste.
How smart lash that speech doth give my conscience.
Smart
Keen; severe; poignant; as, smart pain.
Smart
Vigorous; sharp; severe.
Smart
Accomplishing, or able to accomplish, results quickly; active; sharp; clever.
Smart
Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
Smart
Marked by acuteness or shrewdness; quick in suggestion or reply; vivacious; witty; as, a smart reply; a smart saying.
Who, for the poor renown of being smartWould leave a sting within a brother's heart?
A sentence or two, . . . which I thought very smart.
Smart
Pretentious; showy; spruce; as, a smart gown.
Smart
Brisk; fresh; as, a smart breeze.
Smart
A kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore
Smart
Be the source of pain
Smart
Showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
Smart
Elegant and stylish;
Chic elegance
A smart new dress
A suit of voguish cut
Smart
Characterized by quickness and ease in learning;
Some children are brighter in one subject than another
Smart children talk earlier than the average
Smart
Improperly forward or bold;
Don't be fresh with me
Impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup
An impudent boy given to insulting strangers
Smart
Marked by smartness in dress and manners;
A dapper young man
A jaunty red hat
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