wit
1 Americannoun
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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.
-
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)
idioms
noun
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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
-
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:
The U.S. has been slow to adapt to the battlefield dominance of drones and cheap weapons, but the world’s most dynamic economy has the wit and technology to catch up if there’s enough political will.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Beyond making us laugh, Neill’s wit was one of those special traits that enhanced all the other aspects that made him so lovable as both an actor and a person.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
It concluded in May with a season that tackled Hollywood injustices, intergenerational relationships and legacy-building with lighthearted wit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
"Sir Tom Stoppard gave the British theatre some of its most brilliant and best loved work, and he did it with a wit and a humanity that audiences carried home with them," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
He read broadly in philosophy, science, art, and religion and was known throughout Chicago’s upper echelon for his ability to converse on almost any subject and to do so with great wit.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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
They've broken new ground and set new records, they've challenged the way of things in Scotland and have scared the wits out of the biggest guns.
From BBC ● May 13, 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
I am reasonably educated, and at 64, I still have most of my wits.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
He had few tools other than his wits, his notebook, a handful of photographs, and the children’s letters.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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
“From wot I hear, he was out there, diggen the house foundation, an’ pullen up stones.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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 Chaucer, Geoffrey
And sith thou wost I do it for no wyle, And sith I am he that thou tristest most, 720 Tel me sumwhat, sin al my wo thou wost.'
From Troilus and Criseyde by Chaucer, Geoffrey
Lord God Almythti, thou it wost, Fadir sone and holi gost, To thee i menene my mone; For my spouse that was so trewe, Fadir hende brith of newe, Wol wo is me alone.
From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 91, July 26, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various
We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013
"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
But he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.
From Heroes of Israel Text of the Hero Stories with Notes and Questions for Young Students by Soares, Theodore Gerald
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 Wingfield, Lewis
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
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
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
Yet they often falter when reckoning with their own role, witting or not, in what came to pass.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018
Arriguccio, standing there like one dazed, not witting whether his late doings were actual fact or but a dream, made no more words about the matter, but left his wife in peace.
From The Decameron, Volume II by Rigg, J. M. (James Macmullen)
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.
