witty
Americanadjective
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wittier,
comparative
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wittiest
superlative
-
possessing wit in speech or writing; amusingly clever in perception and expression.
a witty writer.
-
characterized by wit.
a witty remark.
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British Dialect. intelligent; clever
adjective
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characterized by clever humour or wit
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archaic intelligent or sensible
Synonym Usage
See humorous 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of witty
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English wittig originally, “wise”; see wit 1, -y 1
Explanation
A witty remark is clever and funny and timed just right. When you make such a remark, you are also considered to be witty. The adjective witty can be used to describe those quick little funny remarks that often demonstrate a sharp, biting humor delivered in a playful manner. Witty usually describes things that are off-the-cuff amusing, rather than remarks that are elaborate or carefully planned in advance. This adjective is usually used in a complimentary way, but, like its cousin clever, it can be used sarcastically, as when someone who doesn't appreciate your one-liners says, "Well, aren't we witty today."
Vocabulary lists containing witty
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 2
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
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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.
See Examples For:
Mr. Gill looks back at that 1992 interview and others and realizes that the Jeff Beck he thought he knew is a mystery, a self-contradicting trickster with a tendency to be witty and evasive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Some brain-teasing fun: What’s a three-letter word for a “Mother clucker”? Solve today’s crossword for some witty wordplay.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2026
The louche but witty “Murder at the Hotel Orient” seems to occupy a subgenre all its own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Drawing boldly from her own life and the loss of a cherished friend, the best-selling author delivers a spare, witty and incandescent story about family trauma and the mysteries of memory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
They admired Colonel Cathcart and they found Colonel Kom witty.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
“Why should we follow the old ways? Were they so perfect as to leave no room for something bolder, tougher, wittier, more equal and more just?”
From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2024
Allen, as always, is comfortable in his fat suit, and as before, the television series is better than the movies were — just as silly but much wittier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2023
Other participants in the march included children and pensioners and everyone in between, with protesters engaging in good-natured competition over whose banner or placard was wittier.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 23, 2018
Desdemona’s and Emilia’s discussion toward the end about the foibles of men has seldom felt wittier or more on point.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2018
“Yes, very soon. He gave me a quiet hint; I told him he was mistaken; he asked my pardon and said no more. Cole does not want to be wiser or wittier than his neighbours.”
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
Ernst Lubitsch is best remembered today for directing some of the wittiest, sauciest Hollywood romantic comedies of the 1930s and ’40s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
Australian-British author of the 1979 novel Puberty Blues, Kathy Lette, remembered Sir Tom as "one of the wittiest people I ever met".
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
Winifred might be the smartest, wittiest and most brutal psychopath to grace the pages of a comedy of manners that turns into a horror show — all in an age rife with repression.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2025
Just before Wilde’s own courtroom drama, his wittiest play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” had opened — during a February snowstorm — to an acclaim that has never diminished.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2021
Miss Matilda Maddox, you are the wittiest, most fascinating flower to bloom in Baltimore in years.”
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
