wit
1 Americannoun
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wits
plural
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the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.
- Synonyms:
- drollery
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speech or writing showing such perception and expression.
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a person having or noted for such perception and expression.
-
understanding, intelligence, or sagacity.
-
Usually wits
-
powers of intelligent observation, keen perception, ingenious contrivance, or the like; mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness.
using one's wits to get ahead.
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mental faculties; senses.
to lose one's wits;
frightened out of one's wits.
-
idioms
-
at one's wit's end. at the end of one's ideas or mental resources; perplexed.
My two-year-old won't eat anything but pizza, and I'm at my wit's end.
-
keep / have one's wits about one, to remain alert and observant; be prepared for or equal to anything.
to keep your wits about you in a crisis.
-
live by one's wits, to provide for oneself by employing ingenuity or cunning; live precariously.
We traveled around the world, living by our wits.
verb (used with or without object)
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wot,
present (1st person singular), present (3rd person singular)
-
wost,
present (2nd person singular)
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wist,
past, past participle
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witting
present participle
idioms
noun
-
the talent or quality of using unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas to make a clever humorous effect
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speech or writing showing this quality
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a person possessing, showing, or noted for such an ability, esp in repartee
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practical intelligence (esp in the phrase have the wit to )
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dialect information or knowledge (esp in the phrase get wit of )
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archaic mental capacity or a person possessing it
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obsolete the mind or memory
verb
adverb
Synonym Usage
See humor.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wotsimple
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wostsimple
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have wistperfect
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has wistperfect
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am wittingprogressive
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are wittingprogressive
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is wittingprogressive
-
have been wittingperfect progressive
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has been wittingperfect progressive
Past
-
wistsimple
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had wistperfect
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was wittingprogressive
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were wittingprogressive
-
had been wittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wit1
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English: “mind, thought”; cognate with German Witz, Old Norse vit; akin to wit 2
Origin of wit2
First recorded before 900; Middle English witen, Old English witan; cognate with Dutch weten, German wissen, Old Norse vita, Gothic witan to know; akin to Latin vidēre “to see,” Greek oîda (dialect woîda “I know,” and ideîn (dialect wideîn ) “to see,” Sanskrit vidati “(he) knows”; see wot
Explanation
Wit is brainpower or mental ability, or the person who possesses such ability, especially when it's used humorously. When we are scared out of our wits, we — figuratively, anyway — lose for a moment our mental faculties. When we are at our wits' end, we have run out of ideas or possible solutions to a frustrating situation. When we outwit someone, we make the smarter decision. Historical figures known for their wit include Voltaire, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain.
Vocabulary lists containing wit
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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Nothing But the Truth
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Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 1
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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:
The Canadian comedian, writer and producer Fielder is famous for harnessing the power of awkwardness, cringe and deadpan wit to great, if unsettling, comedic effect.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Though not a stylist, he writes with lucidity, generosity and wit; the common reader will enjoy the book quite as well as the scholar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Charles said Liverpool was "a melting pot of ideas, warmth and wit"
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
What follows is a modern picaresque journey, in which a clever underdog has to rely on her wit and wiles to survive a corrupt and perilous world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The witch watched their beauty burn, their bounce, their intelligence, their wit, their open hearts, their charm, their dreams for the future.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
This week saw new heat records set in some areas, but it’s the humidity that has many at their wits end.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
For those who retain their wits, the open questions are still interesting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Nanos warned residents in Guthrie's affluent Catalina Foothills neighbourhood to "keep your wits about you".
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
I am reasonably educated, and at 64, I still have most of my wits.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
“Trust me, if my dad had his wits about him, he wouldn’t be with your grandmother.”
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
After Thatcher’s Conservative successor John Major unexpectedly triumphed in the 1992 election, the tabloid boasted: “It’s the Sun wot won it.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023
Let’s talk a little bit about wot the violence interrupters are.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2021
“Wot you ’ave to know about chimney flues,” he was declaring, “is that flues ’as several twists in ’em, cuz they’s attached to uvver flues wot shares one openin’.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 2, 2018
I would be devastated if I never got to taste Genet Agonafer’s doro wot again, and I’m not the one laboring in the kitchen for three days on the sauce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2018
“From wot I hear, he was out there, diggen the house foundation, an’ pullen up stones.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
The Utes surrender an average of 76 points per game, which is the wost in the conference.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2011
But this week the wost was yet to come.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thou wost eek what thy lady graunted thee, And day is set, the chartres up to make.
From Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
And bringge me wel to þe lond, Þat godard haldes in his hond; Þat is mi Rith, eueri del: 1384 Ihesu crist, þou wost it wel!”
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
Lord God Almythti, thou it wost, Fadir sone and holi gost, To thee i menene my mone; For my spouse that was so trewe, Fadir hende brith of newe, Wol wo is me alone.
From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 91, July 26, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various
We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013
By your blue eyes and flaxen hair I wist ye were Germans: and the printing-press spoke for itself.
From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade
But as we read, "He wist not what to say, for they were sore afraid."
From "Granny's Chapters" (on scriptural subjects) by Lady Mary Ross
"But wist I of a woman bold, Who thrice my brow durst sign, I might regain my mortal mold, As fair a form as thine."
From The Land of Song, Book II For lower grammar grades by Various
But he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.
From Heroes of Israel Text of the Hero Stories with Notes and Questions for Young Students by Theodore Gerald Soares
Facilitators—some witting, some not—also open bank accounts, cash checks and sit for some interviews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
An agent is a paid and witting spy; he formally, sometimes covertly, works for a foreign government.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025
“I can’t but think of partial replacements as immoral because they involve a witting decision by government agencies to leave residents at continued risk of exposure,” said Lambrinidou.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2023
Yet they often falter when reckoning with their own role, witting or not, in what came to pass.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018
He is almost the last person on whom any one would commit literary larceny, and I am not conscious of any witting thefts on any of the genus.
From The Life of Lord Byron by John Galt
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.
