the gist
noun
: the general or basic meaning of something said or written : the main points
—usually + of
The gist of her argument was that the law was unfair.
I didn't read the whole article, but I got the gist of it.
Examples of the gist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That’s the gist of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-science approach to making America healthy.
—
Tressie McMillan Cottom, Mercury News, 29 Aug. 2025
Some interpret the gist of the remark to suggest that the percentage is so low that concerns about unhealthy user-AI relationships are not an especially disconcerting issue and are perhaps being overblown.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
At a snappy 15 minutes long, not much time was spent on each game — but there was enough in there to get the gist of most games in the presentation.
—Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Aug. 2025
That’s the gist of My Oxford Year, a new romance film on Netflix starring Sofia Carson and based on the novel by Julia Whelan.
—Barry Levitt, Time, 1 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for the gist
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Tressie McMillan Cottom, Mercury News, 29 Aug. 2025
Some interpret the gist of the remark to suggest that the percentage is so low that concerns about unhealthy user-AI relationships are not an especially disconcerting issue and are perhaps being overblown.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
At a snappy 15 minutes long, not much time was spent on each game — but there was enough in there to get the gist of most games in the presentation.
—Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Aug. 2025
That’s the gist of My Oxford Year, a new romance film on Netflix starring Sofia Carson and based on the novel by Julia Whelan.
—Barry Levitt, Time, 1 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for the gist
Cite this Entry
“The gist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20gist. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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