Etymology
Origin of half-wit
First recorded in 1670–80
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.
Ken, Rome, and Shiv suspect that if they put their three half-wits together, they'd figure out how to keep Daddy's multibillion-dollar conglomerate afloat.
From Salon
Health and Human Services is just one Trump cabinet department that has been led by not one, but two half-wit hacks and undercut by the White House from Day One.
From Salon
With a broad, cherubic face, dimpled chin, unruly hair and a charismatic presence described as “gnomelike,” Mr. Pollard excelled at playing imps, half-wits and outright weirdos.
From Washington Post
Morgan’s audacity lay in his restraint: He wanted to see the Windsors steadily and to see them whole, as neither pampered half-wits nor infallible deities.
From New York Times
“A plot against me. You're all in it, every one of you. Someone’s paid this half-wit, I tell you. Paid him to tell his string of dirty lies.”
From Literature
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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.