wit

wit

noun

Definition of WIT

1

a person (as a writer) noted for or specializing in humor <the pundits and political wits will get a lot of mileage out of the senator's latest gaffe>

Synonyms card, comedian, comic, droll, farceur, funnyman, gagger, gagman, gagster, jester, joker, jokester, wag, wit

Related Words comedienne, entertainer; banterer, cutup, kidder, knockabout, practical joker, prankster, quipper, quipster, teaser, wisecracker; buffoon, clown, fool, harlequin, zany; caricaturist, lampooner, parodist, satirist

2

the ability to make intelligent decisions especially in everyday matters <he doesn't even have the wit to know when to come in out of the rain>

Synonyms discreetness, discretion, gumption [chiefly dialect], horse sense, levelheadedness, nous [chiefly British], policy, prudence, sense, sensibleness, wisdom, wit

Related Words street smarts; farsightedness, forehandedness, foresight, foresightedness, forethoughtfulness, judgment (or judgement); brains, gray matter, intelligence; logicality, logicalness, practicality, rationality, rationalness; discernment, discrimination, insight, sagacity, sapience; acumen, astuteness, clearheadedness, keenness, penetration, perspicacity, shrewdness; care, caution, circumspection, precaution, premeditation

Near Antonyms shortsightedness; brainlessness, foolishness, half-wittedness, idiocy, senselessness, stupidity; carelessness, heedlessness; unreasonableness

Antonyms imprudence, indiscretion

usually wits plthe normal or healthy condition of the mental abilities <scared out of her wits>

Synonyms daylights, head, marbles, reason, saneness, sanity, wit(s)

Related Words rationality, reasonableness, sense; health, healthfulness, healthiness, wholesomeness; clearheadedness, lucidity, lucidness, normalcy, normality, soundness; wisdom

Near Antonyms delusion, hallucination; delirium, frenzy, hysteria

Antonyms dementia, derangement, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, unreason

4

exceptional discernment and judgment especially in practical matters <lacked the wit to see that the war was unwinnable>

Synonyms astuteness, caginess (also cageyness), canniness, clear-sightedness, foxiness, hardheadedness, intelligence, keenness, knowingness, sharpness, shrewdness, wit

Related Words discernment, insight, perception, perceptiveness, perceptivity, percipience, sagaciousness, sagacity, sageness, sapience, wisdom; artfulness, artifice, craft, craftiness, cunning, deviousness, guile, slickness, slyness, sneakiness, subtleness, subtlety, wiliness; brain(s), gray matter, intellect, reason, sense

Near Antonyms artlessness, greenness, guilelessness, ingenuousness, innocence, naiveness, naïveté (also naivete or naivet{eacute}), simplemindedness, simpleness, simplicity, unsophistication, unworldliness; brainlessness, density, doltishness, dopiness, dumbness, fatuity, foolishness, half-wittedness, mindlessness, oafishness, obtuseness, senselessness, slowness, stupidity, stupidness, vacuity, witlessness