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Synonyms

whit

American  
[hwit, wit] / ʰwɪt, wɪt /

noun

  1. a particle; bit; jot (used especially in negative phrases).

    not a whit better.


Whit 1 British  
/ wɪt /

noun

  1. See 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

adjective

  1. 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 2 British  
/ wɪt /

noun

  1. (usually used with a negative) the smallest particle; iota; jot

    he has changed not a whit

"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

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!

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Vocabulary lists containing whit

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

“It changes not a whit about our policy.”

From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024

As I argue in my new book, at the time of the stand of the 300 at Thermopylae, the Spartans cared not a whit for freedom or liberating others.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2024

But equivocation in a country that doesn’t care a whit if Shakespeare is still on the syllabus can easily pass unnoticed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023

But honestly, Hanako didn’t care a whit what he cared a whit about—after all, this was not the time to be sensitive.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

“In our view, there’s still a lot of embedded and unrealized earnings within this business, driving a multiyear margin story,” Leerink analyst Whit Mayo wrote in a client note.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

“The most important reasons he won in 2024 were his promises to bring inflation down and juice the economy,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2025

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

The one who has truly lost his patience with it is her son, Whit, a seventh-grader at Austin’s General Marshall Middle School who says the phrase interrupts all his classes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025

Coach Whit slid between us, but that wasn't enough to stop what was coming.

From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds

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