Standard Lemma guide

sharp-witted

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: quickwitted, astute, brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, educated, genius, gifted, hivey, ingenious, intellectual, intelligent, keen, knowledgeable, piquant, quick, quick on the uptake, quick-witted, rational, sagacious, savvy, scholared, sharp, smart, talented, whip-smart, wise

Antonyms: dull-witted, addlebrained, addlepated, airheaded, bee-brained, beef-witted, beefheaded, beetle-headed, birdbrained, blockheaded, Boeotian, boneheaded, boofheaded, braindead, brainless, bubbleheaded, buffle-headed, bullet-headed, cerebrally challenged, childish, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, crackbrained, cretinous, daft, dense, dented, dim-bulb, dim-headed, dim-witted, dim, doltish, dopey, dozy, drowsy, dull-headed, dull-minded, dull, dumber than a box of rocks, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatheaded, feeble-minded, flea-brained, foolish, fuzzy-headed, fuzzy-minded, goofy, half-brained, half-witted, hammer-headed, idiotic, ignorant, imbecilic, inane, insipid, intellectually challenged, knuckleheaded, lamebrained, lowbrow, lumpish, lunkheaded, mentally challenged, mentally retarded, mindless, monosynaptic, moronic, muttonheaded, nitwitted, numbskulled, oafish, obtuse, peabrained, pratty, pudding-headed, puerile, purblind, quarter-witted, retarded, ridiculous, rockheaded, sharp as a bowling ball, sheep-headed, silly, simple, slow, slow on the uptake, slow-witted, smooth-brained, stolid, stupid, thick-skulled, thickheaded, thickwitted, thick, unapprehensive, unclever, uninformed, unintelligent, unsmart, vacant, vacuous, witless, wooden-headed, wool-headed, woolly-headed, woolly-minded, dumb as a bag of hammers, dumb as a box of rocks, dumb as a doorknob, dumb as an ox, dumb as a post, dumb as a sack of hammers, dumb as dirt, dumber than a rock, not the sharpest crayon in the box, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the sharpest tool in the shed, thick as a brick, thick as a plank, thick as champ, thick as mince, thick as two short planks, thick as a whale omelette, ass-brained, fuckwitted, shit-for-brains, thick as pig shit

History

Etymology

From sharp + witted.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: fərasətli — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Finnish: terävä — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Finnish: teräväpäinen — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • German: scharfsinnig — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Ancient Greek: ὀξύνους (oxúnous) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Ancient Greek: ὀξύφρων (oxúphrōn) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Hungarian: éles eszű — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Hungarian: éles elméjű — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Russian: остроу́мный (ostroúmnyj) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Russian: смышлёный (smyšljónyj) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Russian: сметли́вый (smetlívyj) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Russian: смека́листый (smekálistyj) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Scottish Gaelic: geur-chùiseach — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Swedish: skarpsinnig — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought
  • Ukrainian: доте́пний (dotépnyj) — clever, keen of intellect, swift of thought