twit

[twit]

See more synonyms for twit on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), twit·ted, twit·ting.

to taunt, tease, ridicule, etc., with reference to anything embarrassing; gibe at.
to reproach or upbraid.

noun

an act of twitting.
a derisive reproach; taunt; gibe.

Origin of twit

1520–30; aphetic variant of obsolete atwite, Middle English atwiten, Old English ætwītan to taunt, equivalent to æt- at¹ + wītan to blame

twit

[twit]

noun

a weak or thin place in yarn caused by uneven spinning.

Origin of twit

First recorded in 1810–20; origin uncertain

twit

[twit]

noun Informal.

an insignificant, silly, or bothersome person: Pay no attention to that obnoxious little twit!

Origin of twit

1920–25; perhaps orig. noun derivative of twit¹, i.e., “one who twits others,” but altered in sense by association with expressive words with tw- (twaddle, twat, twerp, etc.) and by rhyme with nitwit

twit

⁴

[twit]

noun Informal.

a confused, excited state: to be in a twit about company coming.

Origin of twit

⁴

probably shortened from twitter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for twit

rag, laugh, deride, jest, takeoff, rally, jolly, rib, caricature, jape, josh, quiz, lampoon, haze, travesty, pan, scorn, humiliate, pooh-pooh, banter

Examples from the Web for twit

Contemporary Examples of twit

But in one segment, Ray gets her seasonings mixed up (twice), giving critics all the more reason to call her a twit.
Top 5
The Daily Beast
November 28, 2013
The twit, Guy Clinch, is the unlucky father of Marmaduke, an 18-month-old prodigy of domestic mayhem.
Remedial Reader: The Essential Martin Amis
Ronald K. Fried
August 24, 2012
To Steele, surely, goes the prize of Republican Twit of the Week.
Why Steele Should Stay
Tunku Varadarajan
July 5, 2010

Historical Examples of twit

From that evening, in fact, they watched for every opportunity to twit her about her hopeless dream.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
If you are afraid, we will both back out, and then neither can twit the other.
In School and Out
Oliver Optic
The profession of a gentleman at large, with which you twit me, I hereby renounce.
The Master of the Shell
Talbot Baines Reed
They twit me in the teeth, because I cannot say who my father and mother were.
Rienzi
Edward Bulwer Lytton
Do you know, Tishy dear, I was just going to twit you with the negro and his spots.
Somehow Good
William de Morgan

British Dictionary definitions for twit

twit

verb twits, twitting or twitted

(tr) to tease, taunt, or reproach, often in jest

noun

US and Canadian informal a nervous or excitable state
rare a reproach; taunt

Word Origin for twit

Old English ætwītan, from æt against + wītan to accuse; related to Old High German wīzan to punish

twit

noun

informal, mainly British a foolish or stupid person; idiot

Word Origin for twit

C19: from twit 1 (originally in the sense: a person given to twitting)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for twit

1520s, shortened form of atwite, from Old English ætwitan "to blame, reproach," from æt "at" + witan "to blame," from Proto-Germanic *witanan (cf. Old English wite, Old Saxon witi, Old Norse viti "punishment, torture;" Old High German wizzi "punishment," wizan "to punish;" Dutch verwijten, Old High German firwizan, German verweisen "to reproach, reprove," Gothic fraweitan "to avenge"), from PIE root *weid- "to see" (see vision). For sense evolution, cf. Latin animadvertere, literally "to give heed to, observe," later "to chastise, censure, punish."

"foolish, stupid and ineffectual person," 1934, British slang, popular 1950s-60s, crossed over to U.S. with British sitcoms. It probably developed from twit (v.) in the sense of "reproach," but it may be influenced by nitwit.