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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 obtuseness
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
  • Fewer than one per cent of Americans charged with felonies plead insanity, and the great majority of those who do have previously been hospitalized with a serious psychiatric condition.
    — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026
  • And the polarizing trial of Lindsay Clancy, a labor-and-delivery nurse who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after killing her three children in 2023, has captivated the country since July.
    — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • Of course, some of the reasons guests struggle to sleep while traveling have nothing to do with the thickness of the walls or noise from the hallway.
    — Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2026
  • We are desired and judged, we are measured by the thickness of our thighs, size of our chests, sparkle in our grin.
    — Marissa R. Moss, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of thickness
Noun
  • With one of the regional sites next April moving from Bridgeport to PeoplesBank Arena, and another regional scheduled for Springfield, UConn has a chance to really extend the madness past March around here.
    — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Prison interviews and recovered footage slowly reveal how deeply entangled the two men had become in their shared madness.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 11 Sep. 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
  • The key is simplicity and predictability, giving producers confidence that American locations can compete with foreign alternatives.
    — Sam Roseme, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Complexity can disguise poor thinking, while simplicity can expose it.
    — Ricardo Bellino, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of simplicity
Noun
  • The latest contestant in this recurring game of fiscal stupidity is Miami.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Aug. 2026
  • That’s only made worse by the fact that it’s treated as some kind of grand betrayal rather than an impulsive act of youthful stupidity that will make for a good story one day.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 July 2026
Definition of stupidity
Noun
  • Coworkers spin up absurd theories about each other, and this setting—the office as the most fertile breeding ground for speculation—allows Park’s absurdities to bend plausibility without breaking it.
    — James Folta, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Georgian life in that period was extremely difficult, but there was also a kind of absurdity to it, even a charm.
    — JD Linville, Variety, 8 Sep. 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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witless
witlessness
witness
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Cite this Entry

“Witlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/witlessness. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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