(sometimes singular) the ability to reason and act, esp quickly (esp in the phrase have one's wits about one )
(sometimes singular) right mind, sanity (esp in the phrase out of one's wits )
at a loss to know how to proceed
obsolete the five senses or mental faculties
to gain a livelihood by craftiness and cunning rather than by hard work
Your wits are your ability to think clearly and quickly. If the class lizard escapes, you can panic — or you can keep your wits, calmly catch him in a box, and return him to his terrarium. The word wits is used to describe a person's collective mental faculties. If you hang onto your wits in an emergency, that means you remain resourceful and capable. On the other hand, if haunted houses scare you out of your wits, you will probably lose your ability to keep calm and collected at the first sight of a vampire. Wits, like wit, derives from the Old English gewit, "understanding or sense."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It looked like a Mad Max movie,” said Rudi Deysel, chief executive of West Wits Mining WWI -0.63%decrease; red down pointing triangle , the Australian company that owns the mine.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026
In South Africa, where one in five adults lives with HIV, a Wits University research unit oversaw the rollout as part of an initiative funded by Unitaid, the United Nations health agency.
From Barron's • Dec. 1, 2025
William Gumede, an academic at Wits University's School of Governance in Johannesburg, said the ANC's decision did not come as a surprise.
From BBC • Jul. 17, 2024
Smit is now based at the University of the Witwatersrand where she is part of a team developing a new isotope lab and methodologies so that diamond inclusion analyses can ultimately be conducted at Wits.
From Science Daily • Oct. 18, 2023
Bright and serious, Ismail Meer was born in Natal, and while at law school at Wits he became a key member of the Transvaal Indian Congress.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
