Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [wit]
- /wɪt/
- /wɪt/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [wit]
- /wɪt/
Definitions of wits word
- noun wits the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure. Synonyms: drollery, facetiousness, waggishness, repartee. 1
- noun wits speech or writing showing such perception and expression. Synonyms: banter, joking, witticism, quip, raillery, badinage, persiflage; bon mot. 1
- noun wits a person having or noted for such perception and expression. Synonyms: wag, jester, epigrammatist, satirist. 1
- noun wits understanding, intelligence, or sagacity; astuteness. Synonyms: wisdom, sense, mind. 1
- noun wits Usually, wits. powers of intelligent observation, keen perception, ingenious contrivance, or the like; mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness: using one's wits to get ahead. Synonyms: cleverness, cunning, wisdom, insight, perspicacity, sacaciousness, acumen. mental faculties; senses: to lose one's wits; frightened out of one's wits. Synonyms: mind, sanity; brains, marbles. 1
- idioms wits 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. 1
Information block about the term
Origin of wits
First appearance:
before 900 One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English, Old English: mind, thought; cognate with German Witz, Old Norse vit; akin to wit2
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Wits
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
wits popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 96% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".
wits usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for wits
noun wits
- reason — a basis or cause, as for some belief, action, fact, event, etc.: the reason for declaring war.
- faculties — an ability, natural or acquired, for a particular kind of action: a faculty for making friends easily.
- mind — (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.
- intelligence — capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
- brains — an animal's brain, cooked and eaten as food
Top questions with wits
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