wit
1 Americannoun
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wits
plural
-
the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.
- Synonyms:
- drollery
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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
-
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.
verb (used with or without object)
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wot,
present (1st person singular), present (3rd person singular)
-
wost,
present (2nd person singular)
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wist,
past, past participle
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witting
present participle
idioms
noun
-
the talent or quality of using unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas to make a clever humorous effect
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speech or writing showing this quality
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a person possessing, showing, or noted for such an ability, esp in repartee
-
practical intelligence (esp in the phrase have the wit to )
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dialect information or knowledge (esp in the phrase get wit of )
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archaic mental capacity or a person possessing it
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obsolete the mind or memory
verb
adverb
Synonym Usage
See humor.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wotsimple
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wostsimple
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have wistperfect
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has wistperfect
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am wittingprogressive
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are wittingprogressive
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is wittingprogressive
-
have been wittingperfect progressive
-
has been wittingperfect progressive
Past
-
wistsimple
-
had wistperfect
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was wittingprogressive
-
were wittingprogressive
-
had been wittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wit1
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English: “mind, thought”; cognate with German Witz, Old Norse vit; akin to wit 2
Origin of wit2
First recorded before 900; Middle English witen, Old English witan; cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Old Norse vita, Gothic witan to know; akin to Latin vidēre “to see,” Greek oîda (dialect woîda “I know,” and ideîn (dialect wideîn ) “to see,” Sanskrit vidati “(he) knows”; see wot
Explanation
Wit is brainpower or mental ability, or the person who possesses such ability, especially when it's used humorously. When we are scared out of our wits, we — figuratively, anyway — lose for a moment our mental faculties. When we are at our wits' end, we have run out of ideas or possible solutions to a frustrating situation. When we outwit someone, we make the smarter decision. Historical figures known for their wit include Voltaire, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain.
Vocabulary lists containing wit
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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Nothing But the Truth
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Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If you haven’t been following the controversy, Wilson felt that Nolan had flattened the saga by mostly erasing the Greek gods and Odysseus’ wit, lust and thorny contradictions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
His tireless travel schedule and quick wit testify to his stamina -- and he also credits his third wife Rosangela da Silva, 59, with keeping him young.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Auden’s wit and precision in poetry stood in sharp contrast to his chaotic lifestyle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
But Lord Houchen said it was "not beyond the wit of man" to create a system, adding it would not be "overly complicated" and would not be particularly controversial.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
There was no reason for me to be automatically in awe of the wit and intellect of these New Yorkers.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
One of the most famous episodes in Homer’s poem finds Odysseus and his men facing the Cyclops Polyphemus in his cave, where their struggle becomes a battle of wits: lies, taunts, a drunken ruse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
I am reasonably educated, and at 64, I still have most of my wits.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
They talk about all of the things that have been left unsaid, buried by their never-ending battle of wits.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
Gil Blas, a Spaniard born without social standing, becomes caught up with grifters and is obliged to live by his wits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
If he was to stand a chance against the bear, it would be by using his wits.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
And the qey wot adds sparks of raw jalapeño and tomato to chopped lamb.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2021
Let’s talk a little bit about wot the violence interrupters are.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2021
“Wot you ’ave to know about chimney flues,” he was declaring, “is that flues ’as several twists in ’em, cuz they’s attached to uvver flues wot shares one openin’.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 2, 2018
I would be devastated if I never got to taste Genet Agonafer’s doro wot again, and I’m not the one laboring in the kitchen for three days on the sauce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2018
It was the money left me, and the gains of the first few year wot I sent home to Mr. Jaggers—all for you—when he first come arter you, agreeable to my letter.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
The Utes surrender an average of 76 points per game, which is the wost in the conference.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2011
But this week the wost was yet to come.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thou wost eek what thy lady graunted thee, And day is set, the chartres up to make.
From Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
Tell me the wost, stranger; I kin stand it; but I sure hate to fetch the news hum to her.”
From Phil Bradley's Snow-shoe Trail The Mountain Boys in the Canada Wilds by Silas K. Boone
Wast, wost, pa.t. 2d pers. sing. of the verb be.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013
Ye are fallen, our lords, by what token? we wist that ye should not fall.
From Poems & Ballads (First Series) by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Because herein ye did not right, To take the fair one lamb to smite That was of Urias the knight; Ye wist he had but one.
From Poems & Ballads (First Series) by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Spenser writes— "Little wist he his fatall future woe But was secure: the liker he to fall."
From Great Ralegh by Hugh de Selincourt
The priest wist not what to say, but answered, "What shall I do with this fool?" and the man said, "What shall I do with this fool?"
From Amusing Prose Chap Books by Various
An agent is a paid and witting spy; he formally, sometimes covertly, works for a foreign government.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025
“We expect financial institutions will undertake every effort to ensure that they are not witting or unwitting facilitators of circumvention and evasion,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement announcing the order.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
An intelligence organization — whether it is Russian, Iranian or American — looks at potential agent candidates, who can be witting or unwitting, with three key factors in mind: access, vulnerabilities and motivation.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2020
He was certainly involved, aware and witting of everything that was going on.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2016
And there Sir Ector de Maris told Sir Percivale how he had sought his brother, Sir Launcelot, long, and never could hear witting of him: In many strange adventures have I been in this quest.
From Le Mort d'Arthur: Volume 2 by Sir Thomas Malory
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
