WITTY (wittier, wittiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: wittier    , wittiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does witty mean? 

• WITTY (adjective)
  The adjective WITTY has 1 sense:

1. combining clever conception and facetious expression

  Familiarity information: WITTY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WITTY (adjective)

Comparative: wittier   
Superlative: wittiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Combining clever conception and facetious expression

Context example:

his sermons were unpredictably witty and satirical as well as eloquent

Similar:

humorous; humourous (full of or characterized by humor)

Derivation:

wit (a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter)

wit (a witty amusing person who makes jokes)

wittiness (a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter)

 Context examples 

In that respect how unlike dear Mrs. Elton, who wants to be wiser and wittier than all the world!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He must love such a handsome, noble, witty, accomplished lady; and probably she loves him, or, if not his person, at least his purse.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The letter F—had been likewise invariably brought forward, and found productive of such countless jokes, that its character as the wittiest letter in the alphabet had been long established with Elinor.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

"She's not a stricken deer anyway," said Ned, trying to be witty, and succeeding as well as very young gentlemen usually do.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They were men with opinions, though the opinions often clashed, and, though they were witty and clever, they were not superficial.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When I look over my bookshelves, I can see that it is only the wise and witty and valiant who have ventured to write down their experiences.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One may be continually abusive without saying anything just; but one cannot always be laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

As for Mr. Elton, his manners did not appear—but no, she would not permit a hasty or a witty word from herself about his manners.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

They could always talk; and their discourse, witty, pithy, original, had such charms for me, that I preferred listening to, and sharing in it, to doing anything else.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And where does Martin Eden and the work Martin Eden performed come in in all this? he asked himself plaintively, then arose to respond cleverly and wittily to a clever and witty toast.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)