Wit vs Joke - What's the difference?
wit | joke |
Sanity.
The senses.
Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.
The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.
Intelligence; common sense.
Humour, especially when clever or quick.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;
A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.
(ambitransitive, chiefly, archaic) Know, be aware of .
* 1849 , , St. Luke the Painter , lines 5–8
(en-SoE)
An amusing story.
* Gay
Something said or done for amusement, not in seriousness.
* Alexander Pope
(figuratively) The root cause or main issue, especially an unexpected one
(figuratively) A worthless thing or person.
To do or say something for amusement rather than seriously.
(dated) To make merry with; to make jokes upon; to rally.
As nouns the difference between wit and joke
is that wit is sanity while joke is an amusing story.As verbs the difference between wit and joke
is that wit is know, be aware of construed with of when used intransitively while joke is to do or say something for amusement rather than seriously.As a preposition wit
is {{en-SoE}} an alternative spelling of lang=en.wit
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) . Compare (m).Noun
(en noun)Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* brevity is the soul of wit * collect one's wits * gather one's wits * have one’s wits about one * inwit * mother wit * native wit * scare out of one’s wits * witcraft * witful * witless * witling * witter * wittol * witticismSee also
(type of humor) * acid * biting * cutting * lambentEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) . Compare (m).Verb
(head)- You committed terrible actions — to wit , murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.
- They are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.
- but soon having wist
- How sky-breadth and field-silence and this day
- Are symbols also in some deeper way,
- She looked through these to God and was God’s priest.
Conjugation
{, , - , valign="top" , {, class="prettytable" , - ! Infinitive , to wit , - ! Imperative , wit , - ! Present participle , witting , - ! Past participle , wist , } , valign="top" , {, class="prettytable" , - ! ! Present indicative ! Past indicative , - ! First-person singular , I wot , I wist , - ! Second-person singular , thou wost, wot(test) (archaic); you wot , thou wist(est) (archaic), you wist , - ! Third-person singular , he/she/it wot , he/she/it wist , - ! First-person plural , we wit(e) , we wist , - ! Second-person plural , ye wit(e) (archaic); you wit(e) , ye wist (archaic), you wist , - ! Third-person plural , they wit(e) , they wist , } , }Usage notes
* As a preterite-present verb, the third-person singular indicative form is not .Derived terms
* to wit * unwitting * witnessEtymology 3
From English with.Preposition
(head)joke
English
Noun
(en noun)- Or witty joke our airy senses moves / To pleasant laughter.
- It was a joke !
- Enclose whole downs in walls, 'tis all a joke .
- Your effort at cleaning your room is a joke .
- The president was a joke .
Usage notes
* Adjectives often applied to "joke": old, bad, inside, poor, silly, funny, lame, hilarious, stupid, offensive.Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* bad joke * standing joke * knock-knock joke * light bulb joke * practical jokeCoordinate terms
* comedy * limerick * parody * punVerb
(jok)- I didn’t mean what I said — I was only joking .
- to joke a comrade