How to Use street smarts in a Sentence

street smarts

plural noun
  • Will my child lack the street smarts that serve city kids so well?
    Beth Spotswood, SFChronicle.com, 28 Aug. 2019
  • This is one of those days when you can be filled with both street smarts and ancient wisdom.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 7 Sep. 2020
  • Diana’s progress in the first half of season 2 is a testament to those book and street smarts.
    Essence, 21 Dec. 2021
  • Your street smarts and understanding of the ways of the world can put you at the top of the heap in August and September.
    Magi Helena, oregonlive, 25 June 2020
  • This small victory displayed Burkan’s strengths: street smarts, a creative use of the law and a will to win.
    Eric Felten, WSJ, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Still, Arlene seemed to take to the job, which combined her street smarts and business acumen.
    Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Magazine, 25 Sep. 2017
  • Joyce is the textbook feminist, but has no street smarts.
    Selome Hailu, Variety, 14 Apr. 2022
  • Listen to the whisper of your intuitions as well as your street smarts.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 5 Oct. 2020
  • Using his street smarts, Mundo would pretend to hire a hit man.
    Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 5 Sep. 2020
  • Some people are business smarts, book smarts, street smarts, and some people are both.
    Ryan McFadden, baltimoresun.com, 14 Sep. 2021
  • June is when your street smarts are most effective in commerce and career.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 5 Jan. 2021
  • The Nevers will follow the women’s fight against the many powers that be using their street smarts, the fists, and a host of cool steampunk-era gadgets.
    Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 3 Feb. 2021
  • And their mother will promote this business far and wide, using her street smarts to find investors.
    New York Times, 28 Sep. 2021
  • But in this case, the bigger part of the appeal may be watching Buckley work a buyer using bravado and street smarts.
    Jasper Craven, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2023
  • Use both book and street smarts to navigate through the cutthroat competition of the business world.
    Vahe Tirakyan, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2021
  • Put your financial ideas and business plans on hold during the first half of January, when your street smarts are on a downhill trend.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 8 Dec. 2020
  • Will’s street smarts frequently clash with the country-club values of his family, who, for the most part, seem to have lost touch with their cultural roots.
    Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2022
  • The solution, as noted above, involves viewing Billie as more savvy and street smart than she’s often seen.
    Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 June 2018
  • My New York City street smarts were no match for passive-aggressive rumors whispered in the hallways and racist notes tucked into my locker.
    Kavita Das, Longreads, 29 Jan. 2018
  • The Oxford dictionary denotes street smarts as the knowledge and experience to deal with the difficulties and dangers of life in the big city.
    Jon Michail, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
  • Attack the Block followed Boyega’s Moses, a young gang leader turned local hero who uses his street smarts to fight an alien invasion.
    Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Aug. 2022
  • Common sense, street smarts, and positive energy keep me safe.
    Lale Arikoglu, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Apr. 2018
  • The average person may not have the street smarts, negotiation skills or the ability to read social cues that this type of work requires.
    Chloe Meley, refinery29.com, 28 Mar. 2021
  • And the example of his father, the television and film actor Andy McPhee, who has a successful career and was intent on teaching him street smarts, loomed large.
    Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 22 Nov. 2021
  • The film follows a big-box store employee (Lopez) who, after reinventing herself, gets the chance to prove to Madison Avenue that street smarts are as valuable as a college degree.
    Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Feb. 2018
  • In a way, Rap Sh!t serves as a snapshot of women in hip-hop at this moment, when sexuality, social media, and street smarts are all intertwined.
    Bianca Betancourt, Harper's BAZAAR, 11 May 2022
  • Assuming horror pics often have Black characters as the first to die, the all-Black ensemble of characters in The Blackening must use their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies to stay alive.
    Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Nov. 2022
  • Get your career, finances or a business situation in order during late November while your street smarts are in high gear.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, 28 Aug. 2019
  • The first half of July is when your street smarts and wisdom can be at full throttle, so that’s likely an excellent time to make business decisions or launch a new money-making enterprise.
    Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 21 Apr. 2021
  • As a girl without supernatural powers, Max possesses a different kind of strength — cleverness and street smarts that El, who spent most of her childhood locked up in a lab, does not have.
    Sophie Hayssen, Teen Vogue, 12 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'street smarts.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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