This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
wit
1[ wit ]
/ wɪt /
Save This Word!
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
noun
the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.
speech or writing showing such perception and expression.
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.
- mental faculties; senses: to lose one's wits;frightened out of one's wits.
OTHER WORDS FOR wit
1 drollery, facetiousness, waggishness.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?
Idioms about wit
Origin of wit
1First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English: “mind, thought”; cognate with German Witz, Old Norse vit; akin to wit2
synonym study for wit
See humor.
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH wit
whit, witWords nearby wit
Wister, wisteria, wistful, wistfully, wistfulness, wit, witan, witbier, witblits, witch, witch alder
Other definitions for wit (2 of 2)
wit2
[ wit ]
/ wɪt /
verb (used with or without object), present singular 1st person wot,2nd wost,3rd wot,present plural wit or wite;past and past participle wist;present participle wit·ting.
Archaic. to know.
Origin of wit
2First 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use wit in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for wit (1 of 2)
wit1
/ (wɪt) /
noun
See also wits
Word Origin for wit
Old English witt; related to Old Saxon giwitt, Old High German wizzi (German Witz), Old Norse vit, Gothic witi. See wit ²
British Dictionary definitions for wit (2 of 2)
wit2
/ (wɪt) /
verb
archaic to be or become aware of (something)
adverb
to wit that is to say; namely (used to introduce statements, as in legal documents)
Word Origin for wit
Old English witan; related to Old High German wizzan (German wissen), Old Norse vita, Latin vidēre to see
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with wit
wit
see at one's wit's end; have one's wits about one; live by one's wits; scare out of one's wits; to wit.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.