whit

[ wit, hwit ]

/ wɪt, ʰwɪt /

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noun

a particle; bit; jot (used especially in negative phrases): not a whit better.

QUIZ

SHALL WE PLAY A "SHALL" VS. "SHOULD" CHALLENGE?

Should you take this quiz on “shall” versus “should”? It should prove to be a quick challenge!

Question 1 of 6

Which form is used to state an obligation or duty someone has?

shall

should

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of whit

1470–80; perhaps alteration of Middle English wihtwight¹

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH whit

whit , wit

Words nearby whit

whistle up, whistling, whistling buoy, whistling duck, whistling swan, whit, Whitaker, Whitbread, Whitby, Whitchurch-Stouffville, white

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use whit in a sentence

If, after all these years, she possesses any whit of performance anxiety, it has to do only with living up to the legacy of those who showed her the way.
Midori’s career started with a fleeting moment. It’s evolved into a lasting legacy.|Michael Andor Brodeur|May 13, 2021|Washington Post
In 1997, Whit Stillman re-created Studio 54 in its ornate lobby for his film The Last Days of Disco.
How to Save Silent Movies: Inside New Jersey’s Cinema Paradiso|Rich Goldstein|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Have you and Whit wanted to hook up again since The Last Days of Disco?
Chloe Sevigny on ‘The Cosmopolitans,’ New York’s Frat Boy Takeover, and ‘Asshole’ Michael Alig|Marlow Stern|August 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Two decades on from his masterpiece on anti-Americanism abroad, Whit Stillman remains obsessed with native-expat dynamics.
Whit Stillman on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Barcelona’, His New Amazon Series, and the Myth of the Ugly Expat|Michael Weiss|August 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Even so, the comments were illuminating in that they show that Obama is of no frame of mind to change the current policy a whit.
That Fascinating Obama–Charlie Rose Interview|Michael Tomasky|June 18, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The tone was set early when Republican pollster Whit Ayers declared that “we are in an epic struggle against secular socialism.”
CPAC Defiant in Obama Era|Howard Kurtz|March 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The rapid spread of the revolt was not a whit less marvelous than its lack of method or cohesion.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Was the second Charles one whit more desirable than the first of that ilk?
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
The tower in the Grand Place is very fine, and the bricks of which it is built do not yield a whit in color to the best stone.
Little Travels and Roadside Sketches|William Makepeace Thackeray
His flow of speech is incessant; he seems not a whit disconcerted by my evident disinclination to talk.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist|Alexander Berkman
Isabel's theory of life—for women of her make—had not altered a whit, but the beckoning finger had lost its vigor.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton

British Dictionary definitions for whit (1 of 2)

whit

/ (wɪt) /

noun

(usually used with a negative) the smallest particle; iota; jothe has changed not a whit

Word Origin for whit

C15: probably variant of wight 1

British Dictionary definitions for whit (2 of 2)

Whit

/ (wɪt) /

noun

See Whitsuntide

adjective

of or relating to Whitsuntide

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

whit

Origin of whit

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH whit

Words nearby whit

Words related to whit

How to use whit in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for whit (1 of 2)

Word Origin for whit

British Dictionary definitions for whit (2 of 2)