Pert

//pɜːt// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An impudent person. obsolete
  2. 2
    Acronym of program evaluation and review technique. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To behave with pertness; to misbehave. intransitive, obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    Attractive.
  2. 2
    Well-formed; shapely.

    "pert breasts"

  3. 3
    Lively; alert and cheerful; bright.

    "Goe Philoſtrate, / Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments, / Awake the peart and nimble ſpirit of mirth, / Turne melancholy foorth to funerals: […]"

  4. 4
    Especially of children or social inferiors: cheeky, impertinent. archaic

    "Says Mrs. Jervis, Pamela, don’t be pert to his Honour? You ſhould know your Diſtance; you ſee his Honour was only in Jeſt."

  5. 5
    Open; evident; unhidden. obsolete

    "Some parled as perte · as prouyd well after, / And clappid more ffor þe coyne · þat þe kyng oweth hem / Thanne ffor comfforte of þe comyne […]"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    Clever. obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
saucysaucyactiveactivistactivisticaggressively self-confident

Example

More examples

"Mary had a pert nose and deep blue eyes."

Etymology

From Middle English pert, perte, aphetic form of apert.

Related phrases

PERT chartpert as a pearmongersea-pertcritical pathprogram evaluation and review techniqueproject managementwell formed

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