wit

Men, gay and straight, have engaged in what anthropologists call “jocular abuse” since ancient times, when Spartan warriors were schooled in using wit to cut their peers to the quick.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

“I doubt whether even Pope himself could be so convincingly Pope-like aged 13,” he writes, in a comment typical of his generous wit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

She implemented wry wit like a tactical defense, a trusty tool in her arsenal that could disarm an opponent and defuse tricky conversations.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

Rangers were so flat in the Czech Republic, meandering about like confused men, showing weakness in the tackle and not a scintilla of wit.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

From the kitchen window comes the wit wit wit of a barn swallow, footfalls on ramparts, halyards clinking against masts, hinges and chains creaking in the harbor.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

One of the most famous episodes in Homer’s poem finds Odysseus and his men facing the Cyclops Polyphemus in his cave, where their struggle becomes a battle of wits: lies, taunts, a drunken ruse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Nanos warned residents in Guthrie's affluent Catalina Foothills neighbourhood to "keep your wits about you".

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

I am reasonably educated, and at 64, I still have most of my wits.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026

They talk about all of the things that have been left unsaid, buried by their never-ending battle of wits.

From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026

He was a scholar, the friend of Raleigh and of Nashe, the most brilliant and educated of the Cambridge wits.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

After Thatcher’s Conservative successor John Major unexpectedly triumphed in the 1992 election, the tabloid boasted: “It’s the Sun wot won it.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023

Let’s talk a little bit about wot the violence interrupters are.

From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2021

There are numerous reasons that the inquiry has finally been ordered but, according to CNN, it was the Badasses wot won it.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 1, 2019

“Wot you ’ave to know about chimney flues,” he was declaring, “is that flues ’as several twists in ’em, cuz they’s attached to uvver flues wot shares one openin’.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 2, 2018

“From wot I hear, he was out there, diggen the house foundation, an’ pullen up stones.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

The Utes surrender an average of 76 points per game, which is the wost in the conference.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 1, 2011

But this week the wost was yet to come.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ha, thou mi wofull ladi diere, Which duellest with thi fader hiere 3570 And slepest in thi bedd at ese, Thou wost nothing of my desese.

From Confessio Amantis, or, Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins by G. C. (George Campbell) Macaulay

To thee ther mai nothing ben hid, Thou wost hou it is me betid: I wolde I hadde noght be bore, For thanne I hadde noght forlore Mi speche and mi virginite.

From Confessio Amantis, or, Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins by G. C. (George Campbell) Macaulay

Wast, wost, pa.t. 2d pers. sing. of the verb be.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist.

From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013

The Trusty Eckart felt it, But wist not of the cause; His heart the music melted, He wondered what it was.

From Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3) Tales by Musaeus, Tieck, Richter by Thomas Carlyle

Unbroken was his heart, I wist, For he was thinking of a day— A day back in youth's rosy mist— And of a form and of a face.

From The Cornflower, and Other Poems by Jean Blewett

Then wrought proud Lady Svanè lyle What Rosmer little wist; For she's tane out the goud sae red, 100 And laid hersel i' the kist.

From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various

Mark says, "He wist not what to answer, for they became sore afraid."

From The Making of an Apostle by R. J. (Reginald John) Campbell

Facilitators—some witting, some not—also open bank accounts, cash checks and sit for some interviews.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

An agent is a paid and witting spy; he formally, sometimes covertly, works for a foreign government.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025

“We expect financial institutions will undertake every effort to ensure that they are not witting or unwitting facilitators of circumvention and evasion,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement announcing the order.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023

Yet they often falter when reckoning with their own role, witting or not, in what came to pass.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018

So Biondello, witting that against Ciacco his might was not equal to his spite, prayed God for his peace, and was careful never to flout him again.

From The Decameron, Volume II by J. M. (James Macmullen) Rigg