(sometimes singular) the ability to reason and act, esp quickly (esp in the phrase have one's wits about one )
(sometimes singular) right mind, sanity (esp in the phrase out of one's wits )
at a loss to know how to proceed
obsolete the five senses or mental faculties
to gain a livelihood by craftiness and cunning rather than by hard work
Your wits are your ability to think clearly and quickly. If the class lizard escapes, you can panic — or you can keep your wits, calmly catch him in a box, and return him to his terrarium. The word wits is used to describe a person's collective mental faculties. If you hang onto your wits in an emergency, that means you remain resourceful and capable. On the other hand, if haunted houses scare you out of your wits, you will probably lose your ability to keep calm and collected at the first sight of a vampire. Wits, like wit, derives from the Old English gewit, "understanding or sense."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Markets snapped back on what wits called “Taco Thursday.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
Tony Pulis, who pitted his wits against the great European managerial names at Stoke City, believes there is one main reason why the Premier League's list of winning managers has no English names.
From BBC • Jan. 14, 2026
Sam had just wits enough left to thrust the phial back into his breast.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
