street smarts

plural noun

Informal.

shrewd awareness of how to survive or succeed in any situation, especially as a result of living or working in a difficult environment, as a city ghetto neighborhood.

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First recorded in 1970–75

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Examples have not been reviewed.

It appears that, like many who end up in the big city, some fence lizards develop street smarts.

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School was a struggle, and this was a chance to show that his street smarts more than made up for it.

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Mr Erdogan entered the contest with many advantages: his street smarts, his common touch, and his control of 90% of the media here.

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But what he lacks in book learning he’s more than made up for in wisdom, humanity and street smarts.

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But in this case, the bigger part of the appeal may be watching Buckley work a buyer using bravado and street smarts.

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