OUTWIT (outwitted, outwitting)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: outwitted    , outwitting   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does outwit mean? 

• OUTWIT (verb)
  The verb OUTWIT has 1 sense:

1. beat through cleverness and wit

  Familiarity information: OUTWIT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OUTWIT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they outwit    ... he / she / it outwits   
Past simple: outwitted   
Past participle: outwitted   
-ing form: outwitting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Beat through cleverness and wit

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

beat; circumvent; outfox; outsmart; outwit; overreach

Context example:

She outfoxed her competitors

Hypernyms (to "outwit" is one way to...):

exceed; outdo; outgo; outmatch; outperform; outstrip; surmount; surpass (be or do something to a greater degree)

Verb group:

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot outwit Sue

 Context examples 

He reluctantly departs, but his wrongs weigh upon his spirit, and by-and-by when an opportunity comes to redress them, he outwits Mamma by a shrewd bargain.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then the peasants were vexed that the small peasant should have thus outwitted them, wanted to take vengeance on him, and accused him of this treachery before the mayor.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It seemed as though his features had frozen into a diabolical grin at the world he had left and outwitted.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But you have one quality which is very rare in a German, Mr. Von Bork: you are a sportsman and you will bear me no ill-will when you realise that you, who have outwitted so many other people, have at last been outwitted yourself.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of course, they could squirm as they perished, as the socialists squirmed, as the speaker on the platform and the perspiring crowd were squirming even now as they counselled together for some new device with which to minimize the penalties of living and outwit the Cosmos.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)