English · Idiom Candidate

smooth operator

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A person who is skilled at manipulating others to get what they want

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

người khéo léo thao túng người khác để đạt được điều họ muốn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: an operator who is smooth

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

He's a smooth operator, always talking his way out of trouble

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “smooth operator” mean?

A person who is skilled at manipulating others to get what they want Literally: an operator who is smooth

Is “smooth operator” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time