whit
Americannoun
noun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of whit
1470–80; perhaps alteration of Middle English wiht wight 1
Explanation
Whit means a small tiny part of something. If you don't even have a whit of courage, you are most likely a chicken. Whit indicates a bit of something, and usually something abstract like a feeling or emotion. You might feel the last whit of your confidence depart when your teacher hands out the 32-page final exam. Don't confuse whit with wit, meaning mental sharpness or keen sense of humor. Let's hope you have more than a whit of wit in your personality!
Vocabulary lists containing whit
Julius Caesar
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Tuck Everlasting
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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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:
Speculators, in contrast, care not a whit for cash flow; they are focused instead on future stock prices.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2025
The most memorable offerings didn’t care a whit about product-testing strategies.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025
“It changes not a whit about our policy.”
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
"You could have teams of defense lawyers and experts review those documents until the end of time and it wouldn't matter one whit to the outcome of the case," he wrote.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2023
I didn’t care one whit about those girls.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
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He will be ridden by Joe Ramos for trainer Whit Beckman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
Leerink Partners analyst Whit Mayo reiterated an Outperform rating on the stock Tuesday, citing the “sizable Optum Health outperformance.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
Whit Clay, a spokesman for Elysium and Black, said Elysium “had a limited investment” with JPMorgan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Long before he found himself in the middle of a multibillion-dollar takeover battle for a coveted new weight-loss drug, Whit Bernard was a music nerd.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Coach Whit looked at Krystal, who was smirking.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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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.