wisp

American  

[wisp] / wɪsp /

noun

1. a handful or small bundle of straw, hay, or the like.

2. any thin tuft, lock, mass, etc..

   wisps of hair.

3. a thin puff or streak, as of smoke; slender trace.

4. a person or thing that is small, delicate, or barely discernible.

   a mere wisp of a lad; a wisp of a frown.

5. a whisk broom.

6. Chiefly British Dialect.

   1. a pad or twist of straw, as used to rub down a horse.

   2. a twisted bit of straw used as a torch.

7. a will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus.

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verb (used with object)

1. to twist into a wisp.

wisp ¹ British  

/ wɪsp /

noun

1. a thin, light, delicate, or fibrous piece or strand, such as a streak of smoke or a lock of hair

2. a small bundle, as of hay or straw

3. anything slender and delicate

   a wisp of a girl

4. a mere suggestion or hint

5. a flock of birds, esp snipe

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verb

1. to move or act like a wisp

2. dialect (tr) to twist into a wisp

3. (tr) to groom (a horse) with a wisp of straw, etc

WISP ² British  

/ wɪsp /

acronym

1. Wireless Information Service Provider: an internet service provider set up to deal with and deliver internet services to clients through wireless access points

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Other Word Forms

• wisplike adjective

Etymology

Origin of wisp

1300–50; Middle English wisp, wips; akin to wipe

Explanation

A wisp is a thin bit or thread of something. Even after you put out a campfire, there may be little wisps of smoke in the air above it. Tiny pieces of hair escaping your ponytail are wisps, and tufts of clouds or fog are also wisps. A more figurative kind of wisp, like a wisp of memory or sadness, is just the barest snippet of emotion. A wisp of a child is a tiny girl or boy, and a wisp of hay is used to dry a horse — this is actually the original, 14th century meaning of wisp, related to the Swedish visp, "bundle of hay."

Example Sentences

The remark carries a delicate wisp of rueful irony.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

A wisp of a player at 5 feet 3, he wasn’t a particularly strong shooter and didn’t score much.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2025

I float cucumber slices in my water and I swear like I feel like I'm getting a little wisp of a spa experience in my otherwise non luxurious life.

From Salon • Jan. 20, 2024

Breathing in a light wisp of this aromatic elixir takes me back to my Boy Scout campouts, cooking on an open fire and roasting marshmallows.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 21, 2023

Greatly discomfited, the Helper turned to his partner, a wisp of a woman who seemed to be trying to hide behind her hair.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

Related Words

• tuft