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Wit vs Repartee - What's the difference?

wit | repartee |

As nouns the difference between wit and repartee

is that wit is sanity while repartee is a swift, witty reply, especially one that is amusing.

As verbs the difference between wit and repartee

is that wit is know, be aware of construed with of when used intransitively while repartee is to reply with a repartee.

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)
  • 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.
  • Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived 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 * witticism

    See also

    (type of humor) * acid * biting * cutting * lambent

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) . Compare (m).

    Verb

    (head)
  • (ambitransitive, chiefly, archaic) Know, be aware of .
  • 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.
  • * 1849 , , St. Luke the Painter , lines 5–8
  • 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 * witness

    Etymology 3

    From English with.

    Preposition

    (head)
  • (en-SoE)
  • repartee

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A swift, witty reply, especially one that is amusing.
  • * 1919 ,
  • A slight smile broke on his lips. ¶ "You are always prepared to sacrifice your principles for a repartee ," he answered.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick)
  • Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?—Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees , you never heard over your mahogany
  • A conversation marked by a series of witty retorts.
  • *
  • , 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;

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

  • To reply with a
  • * {{quote-book, year=1862, author=Various, section=Vol. 2 No 4, title=The Continental Monthly, chapter=, edition= citation
  • , passage=Aubrey speaks of him as 'incomparable at reparteeing , the bull that was bayted, his witt beinge most sparkling, when most set on and provoked.' }}
  • To have a (conversation marked by repartees)
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=Gouverneur Morris, title=The Penalty, chapter=, edition= citation
  • , passage=To see them together, friendly, reparteeing , chummy, would turn your stomach--Barbara so exquisite and high-born, and the man, his eyes full of evil fires, sitting like a great toad on the model's chair. }}

    Anagrams

    * *