Witty vs Clever - What's the difference?
witty | clever |
(label) Wise, having good judgement.
*, Bk.VIII, Ch.viij:
*:Then cam there a lady that was a wytty lady, and she seyde playnly unto the Kyngthat he sholde never be hole but yf that Sir Trystrames wente into the same contrey than the venym came fro, and in that contrey sholde he be holpyn, other ellys never.
(label) Possessing a strong intellect or intellectual capacity; intelligent, skilful, ingenious.
*, II.7:
*:It hath beene a witty invention.
Clever; amusingly ingenious.
:
Full of wit.
:
Quick of mind; insightful; in possession of wits.
:
Nimble with hands or body; skillful; adept.
* (Francis James Child) (collator), , 198: "Bonny John Seton",
Resourceful, sometimes to the point of cunning.
* 1890 , (Joseph Jacobs) (collator), '', ''English Fairy Tales ,
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Smart, intelligent, or witty; mentally quick or sharp.
* 1860 , (John Timbs), School-Days of Eminent Men ,
* 1912', (Fyodor Dostoevsky), (Constance Garnett) (translator), '''', Book V, Chapter 7: "It's Always Worth While Speaking to a ' Clever Man",
* (rfdate), (Charles Kingsley), ,
Showing inventiveness or originality; witty.
* 1816 , (Jane Austen), , Volume 1, Chapter 9,
* 1919 , , Chapter III,
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 10, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
, title= *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-04-11, author=
, volume=190, issue=18, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Possessing magical abilities.
* 1904 , Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol. XXXVIII,
* 1947 , Oceania, Volumes 16-17,
* 1991 , John & Sue Erbacher, Aborigines of the Rainforest ,
(label) Fit; suitable; having propriety.
* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
(label) Well-shaped; handsome.
* (John Arbuthnot) (1667-1735)
Good-natured; obliging.
1000 English basic words
In obsolete terms the difference between witty and clever
is that witty is wise, having good judgement while clever is well-shaped; handsome.witty
English
Adjective
(er)Synonyms
* facetious * humorous * jocose * jocular * quick * See alsoclever
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- The Highland men, they're clever men / At handling sword and shield,
- The youngest of the three strange lassies was called Molly Whuppie, and she was very clever . She noticed that before they went to bed the giant put straw ropes round her neck and her sisters', and round his own lassies' necks, he put gold chains. So Molly took care and did not fall asleep, but waited till she was sure every one was sleeping sound. Then she slipped out of the bed, and took the straw ropes off her own and her sisters' necks, and took the gold chains off the giant's lassies. She then put the straw ropes on the giant's lassies and the gold on herself and her sisters, and lay down.
Engineers of a different kind, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
page 177,
- has said of Bunyan: “though there were many clever men in England during the latter half of the seventeenth century, there were only two great creative minds. One of these minds produced ‘The Paradise Lost;’ the other, ‘The Pilgrim's Progress.’”
- I would have sent Alyosha, but what use is Alyosha in a thing like that? I send you just because you are a clever fellow. Do you suppose I don't see that? You know nothing about timber, but you've got an eye.
- Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever ; / Do noble things, not dream them all day long: / And so make life, death, and that vast forever / One grand, sweet song.
- Mr. Woodhouse was almost as much interested in the business as the girls, and tried very often to recollect something worth their putting in. "So many clever riddles as there used to be when he was young--he wondered he could not remember them! but he hoped he should in time." And it always ended in "Kitty, a fair but frozen maid."
- I felt they expected me to say clever things, and I never could think of any till after the party was over.
Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle, passage=Just before the break Villa were denied a second goal when Bent had the ball in the net, although he was ruled offside after Jean Makoun's clever pass.}}
Ron Charles
David Grand’s ‘Mount Terminus’, passage=The Rosenbloom Loop is a clever' little device, but it’s an even more ' clever symbol of the role that discipline plays in the creation of illusion: the persistence of vision that makes sequential still images appear to move.}}
page 255,
- When a clever man is out hunting and comes across the tracks of, say, a kangaroo, he follows them along and talks to the footprints all the time for the purpose of injecting magic into the animal which made them.
page 330,
- Prior to this, the two women, who were “clever ,” and possessed a certain amount of magical “power,”.
- Fred is the clever fellow or tribal doctor who practises with the Kuku-Yalanji people. The tribal doctor’s work includes curing sickness, finding out the causes of death, predicting the future and making and stopping rain.
- 'Twould sound more clever / To me and to my heirs forever.
- The girl was a tight, clever wench as any was.