witless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of witless
before 1000; Middle English; Old English witlēas. See wit 1, -less
Explanation
A witless person is a numskull. To be witless is not to lack the "funny" kind of "wit," but to lack the "brains" kind of "wit." If you're witless, you don't have your wits about you. I wouldn't call you stupid, exactly. After all, anyone who can calculate pi to the 20th decimal point without even using a pencil is anything but dumb. But I would call you witless for not knowing that when a woman asks you "Does this dress make me look fat?," the answer should always be "No." You may have heard someone say "Keep your wits about you," which means "Stay alert!" Well, if you're behaving in a witless fashion, then you're not being alert or showing proper judgment. Even smart people can be witless from time to time.
Vocabulary lists containing witless
100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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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.
Harry Brook's dance, swipe and miss at Mitchell Starc from his first ball seemed witless in the moment, yet it was Brook's audacity that kept England from a complete implosion.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025
Yet the subtext is less important than the surface: The movie is simply a witless bore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
Some descriptions of the “My Humps” cover from male critics: not funny, smug, witless, self-conscious, pop music cannibalism, dreadful and completely missing the point.
From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2024
What’s most troubling about this witless mishmash of whiny, infantile philosophizing and bone-crunching violence is the increasing realization that it actually thinks it’s saying something of significance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
Both times I was scared so witless that the guards had to carry me along by the arms.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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.
