WIT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does wit mean? 

• WIT (noun)
  The noun WIT has 3 senses:

1. a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter

2. mental ability

3. a witty amusing person who makes jokes

  Familiarity information: WIT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

humor; humour; wit; witticism; wittiness

Hypernyms ("wit" is a kind of...):

content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)

Domain member category:

couth ((used facetiously) refinement)

couth ((used facetiously) refined and well-mannered)

Domain member usage:

libation ((facetious) a serving of an alcoholic beverage)

roaster (a harsh or humorous critic (sometimes intended as a facetious compliment))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wit"):

jeu d'esprit (a witty comment or writing)

bon mot; mot (a clever remark)

esprit de l'escalier (a witty remark that occurs to you too late)

bite; pungency (wit having a sharp and caustic quality)

caustic remark; irony; sarcasm; satire (witty language used to convey insults or scorn)

repartee (adroitness and cleverness in reply)

gag; jape; jest; joke; laugh (a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter)

caricature; imitation; impersonation (a representation of a person that is exaggerated for comic effect)

cartoon; sketch (a humorous or satirical drawing published in a newspaper or magazine)

fun; play; sport (verbal wit or mockery (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously))

ribaldry (ribald humor)

topper (an exceedingly good witticism that surpasses all that have gone before)

Derivation:

witty (combining clever conception and facetious expression)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mental ability

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

brain; brainpower; learning ability; mental capacity; mentality; wit

Context example:

he's got plenty of brains but no common sense

Hypernyms ("wit" is a kind of...):

intelligence (the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A witty amusing person who makes jokes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

card; wag; wit

Hypernyms ("wit" is a kind of...):

humorist; humourist (someone who acts speaks or writes in an amusing way)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Derivation:

witty (combining clever conception and facetious expression)

 Context examples 

I am at my wits’ end.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It might be a very indifferent piece of wit, but Emma found a great deal to laugh at and enjoy in it—and so did Frank and Harriet.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I wonder that they have not wit to learn English now that they have come under the English crown.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Do come! I am at my wit’s end.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You need not hurry when the object is only to prevent my saying a bon mot, for there is not the least wit in my nature.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"Now do be reasonable, and take a sensible view of the case," implored Jo, almost at her wit's end.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

‘Yes,’ said I, ‘I have taken to living by my wits.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Never had his wit been directed in a manner so little agreeable to her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Then, just as I was at my wits’ end, I caught sight of him, alone at one side; so I formed up in front.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because no time is to be lost in frightening my old housekeeper out of her wits, because I must go and prepare a dinner for you, to be sure.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)