"sharpie" means: An alert person.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
sharpie
(colloquial) An alert person.
Seen in the wild
Presumably Sharpie. In VERY LARGE LETTERS and thanking us for our attention to this matter.
Channel the confidence of a 5yo child drawing on the wall in sharpie!
You mean this all could have been ended a while ago with a napkin and a sharpie! #littlepinky
Shoulda did the sharpie trick, come on Dan.
Sharpie all over a deck of playing cards. Build your character out of the shit they're known for: the stench of cigars, bisexual lighting, an erratic flamethrower. Fight Two Dozen Goons - this is the name of a move…
Definitions
(colloquial) An alert person.
"sharpie" means: An alert person.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
"sharpie" means: An alert person.. Register: informal slang, fine in casual conversation, texting and social media but not in academic essays, business writing or formal speech. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
“Presumably Sharpie. In VERY LARGE LETTERS and thanking us for our attention to this matter.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Channel the confidence of a 5yo child drawing on the wall in sharpie!”
— Bluesky· May 2026“You mean this all could have been ended a while ago with a napkin and a sharpie! #littlepinky”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(US) A swindler.
1976 December, Ken Schultz, Field & Stream Fishing Contest Winners: Nothing but the Best, Field & Stream, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=yy8c1ML83cIC&pg=PA78&dq=%22sharpie%22|%22sharpies%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa…
Comments
(US, regional) A knowledgeable fisherman.
“Shoulda did the sharpie trick, come on Dan.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Sharpie all over a deck of playing cards. Build your character out of the shit they're known for: the stench of cigars, bisexual lighting, an erratic flamethrower. Fight Two Dozen Goons - this is the name of a move in this game.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Sophisticated AI age estimation tech defeated by Sharpie pens. Parliament vows to introduce minimum legal age for felt tip crime enablers.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“OKAY... who else is willing to donate $10 dollars to the first person in the room with Trump, a Sharpie, and a Democratic sense of humor...”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Why is our country the hottest? Climate change and there isn’t a sharpie strong enough to make that go away.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Other words near "sharpie" (S)
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A greeting: hello; hi; goodbye.