Know-it-all

//ˈnəʉ.ɪt.oːl// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Someone who claims to be knowledgeable or an expert in something, obnoxiously dismissing the opinions, advice, suggestions, etc. of others. US, derogatory

    "We had it all figured out, but this know-it-all marched in with "the correct way of solving it", leaving our experiment in shambles."

  2. 2
    someone who thinks they know everything and refuses to accept advice or information from others wordnet

Example

More examples

"Is know-it-all an insult or a compliment?"

Etymology

From know + it + all.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.