wit

/wɪt/

noun 6verb 1prep 1

Collocations

(noun.) clever use of words

ADJ

great | quick, ready | acerbic, barbed, biting, caustic, dry, sarcastic, sardonic, scathing, sharp, wicked | gentle | dazzling, sparkling

VERB + WIT

have

My grandmother has such a quick wit that she always makes us laugh at family dinners.

PHRASES

wit and wisdom

Her grandmother shared the wit and wisdom she had gathered over a lifetime of teaching.

(noun.) intelligence

ADJ

native

His native wit helped him find a clever solution to the difficult problem.

VERB + WIT

have

She didn't have the wit to realize they were joking about her.

PHRASES

beyond the wit of man

(noun.) wits: ability to think quickly

VERB + WIT

gather, recover

After the accident, it took him several minutes to recover his wits and call for help.

blunt, dull

After a week without sleep, his wits were completely blunted by exhaustion.

sharpen

PHRASES

a battle of wits

The chess match turned into a real battle of wits between the two young champions.

have/keep your wits about you

When the fire alarm went off, she kept her wits about her and safely guided everyone outside.

pit your wits against sb

In the competition, young students pit their wits against rivals from other schools.

Definitions

noun

Sanity.

He's gone completely out of his wits.

The senses.

Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.

Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say.

The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.

My father had a quick wit and a steady hand.

Intelligence; common sense.

The opportunity was right in front of you, and you didn't even have the wit to take it!

I gif the witt, I gif the strenght, / of all thou sees, of brede & lengthe; / thou shall be wonder wise. / Myrth and Ioy to haue at will, / All thi likyng to fulfill, / and dwell in paradise.

verb

To know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively).

You committed terrible actions — to wit, murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.

They are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.

prep

Pronunciation spelling of with.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — mental ability

noun — a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has

humor
humour
witticism
wittiness

noun — a witty amusing person who makes jokes

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

staircase wit

The thinking of an idea or course of action too late to use it effectively, or the tendency to do so.

When I have completed a manuscript, if I lay it away in a drawer or pigeon-hole, it lies there quietly enough, and my mind seems wholly discharged of it. But if I mail it, I straig

brevity is the soul of wit

Conciseness of expression is an essential characteristic of astute, perceptive, or witty remarks.

The same complaint must be made against Mr. Matthew's excellent survey of the theory of evolution, as against Dr. Erasmus Darwin's original exposition of the same theory, namely, t

Example Bank

He's gone completely out of his wits.

Wiktionary

Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say.

Wiktionary

My father had a quick wit and a steady hand.

Wiktionary

You committed terrible actions — to wit, murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.

Wiktionary

They are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.

Wiktionary

Truly, said fair Elaine, I shall do all that I may do, for as fain would I know and wit where he is become as you or any of his kin, or queen Guenever, and cause great enough have I thereto as well as

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, wit is marked as obsolete. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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