wit
1 Americannoun
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wits
plural
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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.
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a person having or noted for such perception and expression.
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understanding, intelligence, or sagacity.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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
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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
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have been wittingperfect progressive
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has been wittingperfect progressive
Past
-
wistsimple
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had wistperfect
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was wittingprogressive
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were wittingprogressive
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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:
What follows is a modern picaresque journey, in which a clever underdog has to rely on her wit and wiles to survive a corrupt and perilous world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Kyle Hermann, a 29-year-old teacher from California, praised Rubio's "charm and his wit" and said he hoped both men could emerge from any primary battle without damaging each other.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Huggins described Norman as a humble man who lived to 107 and said his humour, wit, wisdom and anecdotes about living a long life would be greatly missed.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
“I doubt whether even Pope himself could be so convincingly Pope-like aged 13,” he writes, in a comment typical of his generous wit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
It was a lady shrew, a tiny thing scarcely bigger than a peanut, but with a wit as sharp as her teeth.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
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
The trip taught him how to rely on his musical talents and his wits to survive on the road.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Readers will undoubtedly become better acquainted with the variety of American Christianity but will have to use their own wits to find patterns or hear harmonies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
I am reasonably educated, and at 64, I still have most of my wits.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
His wits came back to him slowly and he looked up to see what was wanted.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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
Thou wost eek what thy lady graunted thee, And day is set, the chartres up to make.
From Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
Ther-with it semed as he wepte almost; `A ha,' quod Troilus so rewfully, 65 `Wher me be wo, O mighty god, thow wost!
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
We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013
Ik wist niet dat u van de belasting was.
From The Further Adventures of O'Neill in Holland by J. Irwin Brown
They wist not of her, nor cared, being transferred to other hands, and yet they stood 'twixt her and the precipice.
From The Maid of Honour, Volume 2 (of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Lewis Wingfield
"But wist I of a woman bold, Who thrice my brow durst sign, I might regain my mortal mold, As fair a form as thine."
From The Land of Song, Book II For lower grammar grades by Various
To adapt Ko-Ko's celebrated song, he would say:— A boy may wear his hair in curls, or bear a pudding face, Some mothers, as you wist, that folly can't resist!
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, September 2nd, 1893 by Various
Facilitators—some witting, some not—also open bank accounts, cash checks and sit for some interviews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
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
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
My Lord," said Rob Roy, "although I may well lay my misfortunes at your Grace's door, yet I will never say that you yourself have been the wilful and witting author of them.
From Rob Roy — Volume 02 by Sir Walter Scott
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.
