witlessness

noun

Definition of witlessnessnext
1
as in insanity
lack of good sense or judgment his astounding feats of witlessness are the stuff of family legend

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in thickness
the quality or state of lacking intelligence or quickness of mind for sheer witlessness the movie's dialogue deserves some sort of award

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of witlessness No, but the line captures the aristocracy’s witlessness. — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for witlessness
  1. insanity
  2. thickness
  3. madness
  4. stupidness
  5. simplicity
  6. stupidity
  7. absurdity
  8. dumbness
Noun
  • McCall tried to create a contrast between the locations, with the Cady clan’s surroundings having an overgrown quality reflecting the uncontrollable insanity at the heart of the family.
    — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 10 July 2026
  • Dominguez entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • While some hair products can be used across different textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, and colors (natural and unnatural), they are often created with specific consumers in mind.
    — Sara Coughlin, Allure, 9 July 2026
  • Schippers did not specify the size, shape, thickness, or type of peanut butter the work needs.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 July 2026
Definition of thickness
Noun
  • The Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB shares his method behind the madness.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026
  • Neill plays Mark in director Andrzej Żuławski’s fearless study of madness, opposite the incredible Isabelle Adjani as his increasingly disturbed wife, Anna.
    — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 14 July 2026
Definition of madness
Noun
  • In an email to Krebs, Valadon claimed that the repo’s commit logs show that GitHub’s default protections against committing secrets—protections designed to protect unwitting or unskilled developers against exactly this kind of stupidness—had been disabled by the repo’s administrator.
    — Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2026
Definition of stupidness
Noun
  • Apple’s entire business is predicated on the consumer desire for simplicity.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 11 July 2026
  • But beyond speed and simplicity, the Breakaway/Build model also requires trust.
    — Andre Mouchard, Oc Register, 10 July 2026
Definition of simplicity
Noun
  • Here are the three reasons a good employee sits on a great AI discovery, and none of them is stupidity.
    — Mark Murphy, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
  • The stupidity of losing his car was one thing; the cruelty of forcing her to make that choice was quite another.
    — Emily Ruskovich, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026
Definition of stupidity
Noun
  • All sorts of factors—religious fervor, drug trips, the absurdities of aging—an unmoor a person’s mind and spirit.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 July 2026
  • Still, the gleeful absurdity of that concept came with its own humanity.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 15 July 2026
Definition of absurdity
Noun
  • The first 10 minutes are an incredible swirl of paranoia, alcoholism, and sluggish dumbness when Gould just needs to feed his cat.
    — Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026
  • Unlike its sibling concepts of dumbness and idiocy, stupidity isn’t really a personality trait.
    — Jonny Thomson, Big Think, 11 Feb. 2026
Definition of dumbness

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witlessness
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Cite this Entry

“Witlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/witlessness. Accessed 18 Jul. 2026.

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