wit
1the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.
speech or writing showing such perception and expression.
a person having or noted for such perception and expression.
understanding, intelligence, or sagacity.
Usually wits .
powers of intelligent observation, keen perception, ingenious contrivance, or the like; mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness: using one's wits to get ahead.
mental faculties; senses: to lose one's wits;frightened out of one's wits.
Idioms about wit
at one's wit's end. at the end of one's ideas or mental resources; perplexed: My two-year-old won't eat anything but pizza, and I'm at my wit's end.
keep / have one's wits about one, to remain alert and observant; be prepared for or equal to anything: to keep your wits about you in a crisis.
live by one's wits, to provide for oneself by employing ingenuity or cunning; live precariously: We traveled around the world, living by our wits.
Origin of wit
1synonym study For wit
Other words for wit
1 | drollery, facetiousness, waggishness |
2 | banter, joking, witticism, quip, raillery, repartee, badinage, persiflage; bon mot |
3 | wag, jester, satirist, epigrammatist |
4 | wisdom, sense, mind |
5a | cleverness, astuteness, insight, perspicacity, shrewdness, acumen |
5b | mind, reason, sanity, saneness; marbles |
Words that may be confused with wit
- whit, wit
Other definitions for wit (2 of 2)
Archaic. to know.
Origin of wit
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for wit (1 of 2)
/ (wɪt) /
the talent or quality of using unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas to make a clever humorous effect
speech or writing showing this quality
a person possessing, showing, or noted for such an ability, esp in repartee
practical intelligence (esp in the phrase have the wit to)
Scot and Northern English dialect information or knowledge (esp in the phrase get wit of)
archaic mental capacity or a person possessing it
obsolete the mind or memory
Origin of wit
1- See also wits
British Dictionary definitions for wit (2 of 2)
/ (wɪt) /
archaic to be or become aware of (something)
to wit that is to say; namely (used to introduce statements, as in legal documents)
Origin of wit
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with wit
see at one's wit's end; have one's wits about one; live by one's wits; scare out of one's wits; to wit.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse