wit

¹

[wit]

noun

1. the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure.

   Synonyms: drollery

2. speech or writing showing such perception and expression.

   Synonyms: raillery, quip, witticism, banter, bon mot, persiflage, badinage, repartee

3. a person having or noted for such perception and expression.

   Synonyms: satirist, jester, wag

4. understanding, intelligence, or sagacity.

   Synonyms: mind, sense, wisdom

5. 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.

wit

²

[wit]

verb (used with or without object)

present-singular-1st-person

wot ,

second-person

wost ,

third-person

wot ,

present-plural

wit, wite ,

past-and-past-participle

wist ,

present-participle

witting .

1. Archaic.,  to know.

wit

¹

/ wɪt /

noun

1. the talent or quality of using unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas to make a clever humorous effect

2. speech or writing showing this quality

3. a person possessing, showing, or noted for such an ability, esp in repartee

4. practical intelligence (esp in the phrase have the wit to )

5. dialect,  information or knowledge (esp in the phrase get wit of )

6. archaic,  mental capacity or a person possessing it

7. obsolete,  the mind or memory

wit

²

/ wɪt /

verb

1. archaic,  to be or become aware of (something)

adverb

1. that is to say; namely (used to introduce statements, as in legal documents)

Word History and Origins

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”; wot

Word History and Origins

Origin of wit¹

Old English witt; related to Old Saxon giwitt, Old High German wizzi (German Witz ), Old Norse vit, Gothic witi. See _wit ²

Origin of wit²

Old English witan; related to Old High German wizzan (German wissen ), Old Norse vita, Latin vidēre to see

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. to wit, that is to say; namely.

   It was the time of the vernal equinox, to wit, the beginning of spring.

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.

Synonym Study

See humor.

Example Sentences

What “The Trouble With Harry” needed, Herrmann wrote, was “a musical portrait of Hitchcock . . . gay, funny, macabre, tender and with an abundance of his sardonic wit.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Regaining her wits, she ran to the kitchen and grabbed a small fire extinguisher.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Adapted from the Belgian series “Clan” in 2022 by Sharon Horgan, who also stars, this is an Irish comedy of the darkest dye, sharpest wit and most tender heart, with some grand scenery thrown in.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

To wit, the consensus earnings per share estimate for the S&P 500 now stands at $269, up from $263 at the start of the quarter.

Read more on Barron's

Pushed to her wits’ end, Linda can no longer suffer those limits, even if she knows that it’s against the same code she swore by when becoming a therapist herself.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• fun 
• joke 
• satire