pert

adjective

ˈpərt 

1

a

: saucily free and forward : flippantly cocky and assured

b

: being trim and chic : jaunty

a pert little hat

c

: piquantly stimulating

is a pert notion

2

: lively, vivacious

pertly adverb

pertness noun

Synonyms

• active
• airy
• animate
• animated
• bouncing
• brisk
• energetic
• frisky
• gay
• jaunty
• jazzy
• kinetic
• lively
• mettlesome
• peppy
• perky
• pizzazzy
• pizazzy
• racy
• snappy
• spanking
• sparky
• spirited
• sprightly
• springy
• vital
• vivacious
• zippy

Examples of pert in a Sentence

a pert girl who is a member of the cheerleading squad

a pert retort that irritated the teacher

Recent Examples on the Web

His left arm is akimbo and his right arm is raised, in a pert military salute, to his forehead. —Benjamin Moser, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2024

Sales were boosted by a national prime-time television ad campaign in which a disorganized young man bumps into a pert young woman at the library, knocking her Trapper to the floor. —Emily Langer, Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2022

But on closer inspection, there are differences: This cropper is shirtless, his backside a bit too pert, and the stalks of asparagus growing from the ground are, in fact, penises. —Max Norman David Chow Victoria Petro-Conroy, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2022

This dichotomy—a pert good girl who longs to be bad, a cheeky bad girl trying her hardest to be good—echoed throughout Newton-John’s long career as an actress and singer. —Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, evident, attractive, saucy, short for apert evident, from Anglo-French, from Latin apertus open, from past participle of aperire to open

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

pert

adjective

ˈpərt 

1

: impudent

2

: being trim and chic

3

: vivacious, lively

pertly adverb

pertness noun