wit
noun /wɪt/
/wɪt/
Word Family
Idioms - wit noun
- witty adjective
- witticism noun
- outwit verb
- to have a quick/sharp/dry/ready wit
- a woman of wit and intelligence
- a book full of the wit and wisdom of his 30 years in politics
Extra ExamplesTopics Personal qualitiesc1- He had a dry wit.
- He has plenty of wit and imagination.
- He was blessed with great charm and a quick wit.
- I wanted to bowl him over with my sparkling wit.
- She had to use all her native wit to convince the police.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- quick
- ready
- …
- have
- wit and wisdom
- [countable] a person who has the ability to say or write things that are both clever and humorous
- a well-known wit and raconteur
- wits[plural] your ability to think quickly and clearly and to make good decisions
- He needed all his wits to find his way out.
- The game was a long battle of wits.
- Kate paused and gathered her wits.
- a chance to pit your wits against (= compete with, using your intelligence) our quiz champion
Extra Examples- She couldn't seem to gather her wits and tell us what had happened.
- The game allows you to match wits with a computer criminal.
- The strike developed into a battle of wits between management and workers.
- Living alone in the country had dulled his wits.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + wits- use
- have
- gather
- …
- a battle of wits
- have your wits about you
- keep your wits about you
- …
- -witted(in adjectives) having the type of intelligence mentioned
- a quick-witted group of students
- [uncountable] wit to do something the intelligence or good sense to know what is the right thing to do
- At least you had the wit to ask for help.
- It should not be beyond the wit of man to resolve this dispute.
Extra Examples- I hope he has the wit to take the key with him.
- I hope you had the wits to apologize.
- You'd think they'd have the wit to ask for help.
- It shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to solve this issue.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- native
- have
- use
- beyond the wit of man
see also witless
Word OriginOld English wit(t), gewit(t), denoting the mind as the seat of consciousness, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch weet and German Witz, also to wit in the archaic sense ‘have knowledge’.
Idioms
be at your wits’ end
- (informal) to be so worried by a problem that you do not know what to do next
- She was at her wits’ end wondering how she’d manage it all in the time.
- I'm at my wits' end trying to cope with his moods.
be frightened/scared/terrified out of your wits
(also to frighten/scare the wits out of somebody)
- to be very frightened; to frighten somebody very much
- I was scared out of my wits!
- The latest news has scared the wits out of investors.
have/keep your wits about you
- to be aware of what is happening around you and ready to think and act quickly
- They do tough interviews so you'll need to have your wits about you.
live by your wits
- to earn money by clever or sometimes dishonest means
to wit
- (old-fashioned, formal) you use to wit when you are about to be more exact about something that you have just referred to
- Pilot error, to wit failure to follow procedures, was the cause of the accident.