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wit

1
[ wit ]
/ wɪt /
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See synonyms for: wit / wits / witting on Thesaurus.com

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 .
  1. powers of intelligent observation, keen perception, ingenious contrivance, or the like; mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness: using one's wits to get ahead.
  2. mental faculties; senses: to lose one's wits;frightened out of one's wits.

OTHER WORDS FOR wit

1 drollery, facetiousness, waggishness.
3 wag, jester, satirist, epigrammatist.
5b mind, reason, sanity, saneness; marbles.
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Idioms about wit

Origin of wit

1
First 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, wit

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

2
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
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.
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