Definition of GISTS

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The gist of the conversation was that .... The word gist often appears in such contexts to let us know that what follows will be a statement or summary that in some way encapsulates the main point or overarching theme. The gist of a conversation, argument, story, or what-have-you is what we rely on when the actual words and details are only imperfectly recalled, inessential, or too voluminous to recount in their entirety. Gist was borrowed from the Anglo-French legal phrase "[cest] action gist" ("[this] action lies") in the early 18th century, and was originally used in legal contexts as a term referring to the foundation or grounds for a legal action without which that action would not be legally sustainable.

Examples of gist in a Sentence

Thus, Poulterers' Case gave rise to a doctrine which survives to this day: the gist of conspiracy is the agreement, and so the agreement is punishable even if its purpose was not achieved. — Wayne R. LaFave & Austin W. Scott, Jr., Criminal Law, (1972) 1986 … Einstein showed how time intervals depend on the motion of people and clocks doing the measuring. And that's the gist of relativity. — Alan Lightman, Science, January/February 1984 Dorothea told him that she had seen Lydgate, and recited the gist of her conversation with him about the Hospital. — George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1872 didn't catch every word between them, but heard enough to get the gist of the conversation

Recent Examples on the Web

The gist of it is that hydrogen atoms deep in the core of stars fuse together to make heavier helium atoms, but in the process, a tiny amount of the hydrogen is converted to a tremendous amount of light and other radiation. — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, "Sky Watch: Lyra the Lyre may be a small constellation, but it has a big story," 18 Aug. 2019 The gist: These women, despite their manicured appearances, were capable of extreme ugliness. — Alex Abad-santos, Vox, "“Christian girl autumn,” explained.," 14 Aug. 2019 There appears to be some leaked s3 data of yours in someone’s github/gist. — Los Angeles Times, "Tipster’s email led to arrest in massive Capital One breach," 30 July 2019 The gist of the party bike is this: two-hour tours, 15 of your closest friends, BYO beer and wine (no hard liquor; Solo cups are usually provided), plus stops at multiple bars along the way. — Priya Krishna, Bon Appétit, "Are You Even Having a Good Time If It’s Not on a Party Bike?," 8 Aug. 2019 The gist: while Crowder did use offensive language, the overall thrust of his videos was to respond to Maza’s media criticism, and so YouTube considered it fair game. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "Three ways YouTube could fight harassment," 6 June 2019 The Upper East Side audience featured the likes of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Obama Administration car czar Steve Rattner and former Hillary Clinton adviser Lisa Caputo — political pros who got the gist of Biden’s push. — Philip Elliott, Time, "Joe Biden Keeps Stumbling. The Democratic Pile-On Is Just Getting Started.," 21 June 2019 The gist of these stories is that such outcomes are not only ludicrous but unjust. — The Conversation, oregonlive.com, "Who’s is your daddy? It’s not all about DNA," 16 June 2019 But Scholze hopes that, in contrast with the situation for Mochizuki’s original series of papers, this should not be a protracted process, since the gist of his and Stix’s objection is not highly technical. — Quanta Magazine, "Titans of Mathematics Clash Over Epic Proof of ABC Conjecture," 20 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.