English Explanatory Dictionary

witty

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Clever; amusingly ingenious.
  2. Full of wit.
  3. Quick of mind; insightful; in possession of wits.
  4. Wise, having good judgement.
  5. Possessing a strong intellect or intellectual capacity; intelligent, skilful, ingenious.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈwɪti/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-witty.wav [ˈwɪɾi]

Word forms

witty wittier wittiest Wittys

Etymology

From Middle English witty, witti, from Old English wittiġ, witiġ, ġewittiġ (“clever, wise”), from Proto-West Germanic *witīg, *witag, from Proto-Germanic *witagaz, *wītagaz (“knowing, wise, clever”), equivalent to wit + -y. Cognate with Middle Low German wittich, gewittich (“knowing, clever, wise, understanding”), German witzig (“funny, witty”), Norwegian Bokmål vettig, Norwegian Nynorsk vittig (“witty”).

Synonyms

facetious humorous jocose jocular quick lively witty amusing bright diverting droll entertaining piquant quick on the draw quick-witted sharp tongue-in-cheek

Antonyms

brainless lowbrow stupid witless corny hackneyed lame humorless uncomic unfunny earnest grave serious sober solemn somber

Related words

kitty witty joke funny intelligent
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on W Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary