too clever by half
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Annoyingly proud.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The arithmetic can not be faulted — and may well be judged too clever by half.
‘ That man is too clever by half,’ Paula commented.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “too clever by half” mean?
Annoyingly proud.
Is “too clever by half” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.