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
  • Colt did not have any signs of insanity, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, Richards said.
    — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 28 July 2026
  • This case involved a client who, after years of competency litigation, was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state forensic hospital.
    — Schnelle Tonge, Sun Sentinel, 16 July 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • How Long to Grill Salmon Cooking time depends much more on thickness than weight.
    — Lynn Andriani, Martha Stewart, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Three of the four main tendons (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and subscapularis tendons) had full-thickness tears.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 31 July 2026
Definition of thickness
Noun
  • Except none of it was true — and the real perpetrator behind the madness wasn’t who anyone suspected.
    — Katie Mather, PEOPLE, 23 July 2026
  • Their win was a victory for method over the madness that always threatened to be Argentina’s undoing.
    — Oliver Kay, New York Times, 20 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 Bob Borchers emphasized the plan's simplicity and flexibility for customers.
    — David Phelan, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
  • But Morton chafes against such stark and incriminating simplicity.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 27 July 2026
Definition of simplicity
Noun
  • The stupidity and greed of the status quo threatens to drive her insane.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 July 2026
  • His eventual dismissal in second-half stoppage time was an exercise in rash stupidity, crashing through Spain’s teenage center back Pau Cubarsi.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 20 July 2026
Definition of stupidity
Noun
  • Laughter reframes these experiences from tragedy to absurdity, helping individuals push back against negative aging stereotypes.
    — Jann E. Freed, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • And there’s an absurdity to that scene, which Daeron is feeling just in the shock of it in itself.
    — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 27 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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witless
witlessness
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Cite this Entry

“Witlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/witlessness. Accessed 2 Aug. 2026.

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