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.
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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
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had wistperfect
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was wittingprogressive
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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:
“I was in awe of his intellect, dazzled by his wit, amazed by his fearlessness and spirit of adventure, besotted by his loving heart, and smitten by his beautiful blue eyes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
No dichotomy better represents Berlant’s razor-sharp, thoroughly tasteful wit, which sits halfway between refined humorist and go-for-broke court jester.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
There is a lot to love in Jane Austen: The wit, the gentility, the portraiture, the sly social observation, the romance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The Canadian comedian, writer and producer Fielder is famous for harnessing the power of awkwardness, cringe and deadpan wit to great, if unsettling, comedic effect.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Yeh seem tae be good folk. Oi’d love tae share a bit of danner wit ye.”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
You have enough on your plate and don’t need to get into a months- or years-long battle of wits with your stepmother.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Huang referenced an ancient Chinese myth where three ordinary people combine their wits to equal one genius.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
The trip taught him how to rely on his musical talents and his wits to survive on the road.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
At the end of each show, the judges pick two characters to face off in a battle of wits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
Hazel felt so much frightened that he could no longer collect his wits.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
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
I says each time,—and I goes out in the air to say it under the open heavens,—‘but wot, if I gets liberty and money, I’ll make that boy a gentleman!’
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
And bringge me wel to þe lond, Þat godard haldes in his hond; Þat is mi Rith, eueri del: 1384 Ihesu crist, þou wost it wel!”
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
"That thow wost wel," quod he · "and no wyghte bettere."
From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jean Jules Jusserand
Thenk eek Fortune, as wel thy-selven wost, 600 Helpeth hardy man to his enpryse, And weyveth wrecches, for hir cowardyse.
From Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013
Spenser writes— "Little wist he his fatall future woe But was secure: the liker he to fall."
From Great Ralegh by Hugh de Selincourt
I wist not well what this man meant, He cried so thick there indeed, But he that lacked money, might not speed.
From A History of the Cries of London Ancient and Modern by Charles Hindley
For He wist not what to answer; for they became sore afraid.
From The Gospel According to St. Mark by G. A. Chadwick
He did sae; and about midnight, ere ever he wist, the dog set up a howl close beside him.
From The Shepherd's Calendar Volume I (of II) by James Hogg
An agent is a paid and witting spy; he formally, sometimes covertly, works for a foreign government.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025
“I can’t but think of partial replacements as immoral because they involve a witting decision by government agencies to leave residents at continued risk of exposure,” said Lambrinidou.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2023
The problem isn’t that confirmation hearings are too hard on the nominees, who are, after all, witting and willing participants.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2022
A witting asset is a person or entity who knows that there is a foreign power working in their interest.
From Salon ● May 22, 2019
Like Nature herself, they have hedgerows where the little ones can gather flowers, little witting of the farther horizons of earth and sky lifted up for the eyes of the elders.
From The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28 The Independent Health Magazine by Charles William Daniel
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