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, humoristRelated 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, common senseRelated 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, premeditationNear Antonyms shortsightedness; brainlessness, foolishness, half-wittedness, idiocy, senselessness, stupidity; carelessness, heedlessness; unreasonablenessAntonyms imprudence, indiscretion

3 usually wits pl  the normal or healthy condition of the mental abilities scared out of her wits Synonyms daylights, head, marbles, reason, saneness, sanity, mind(s)Related Words rationality, reasonableness, sense; health, healthfulness, healthiness, wholesomeness; clearheadedness, lucidity, lucidness, normalcy, normality, soundness; wisdomNear Antonyms delusion, hallucination; delirium, frenzy, hysteriaAntonyms 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, acumenRelated 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, senseNear Antonyms artlessness, greenness, guilelessness, ingenuousness, innocence, naiveness, naïveté (also naivete or naiveté), simplemindedness, simpleness, simplicity, unsophistication, unworldliness; brainlessness, density, doltishness, dopiness, dumbness, fatuity, foolishness, half-wittedness, mindlessness, oafishness, obtuseness, senselessness, slowness, stupidity, stupidness, vacuity, witlessness