native wit
noun1
The intelligence or common sense with which one is normally born.
- But the most valuable parts of his performance are those which retired study and native wit cannot supply.1781, Samuel Johnson, “Samuel Butler”, in Lives of the Poets:
- Nelly Kirkpatrick was a great, red-haired giant of a woman, very illiterate, but with some native wit, and good-hearted enough, I am told, when she was in her right mind.c. 1870, Bayard Taylor, “Mrs. Strongitharm's Report”, in Beauty and The Beast and Tales of Home:
3 more examples
- Or we might go practically unaccompanied, relying on our native wit and good fortune to attain our ends.1916, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 8, in The Ivory Child:
- But with his native wit and musical intelligence, Pavarotti cannot act dumb.1978 March 6, “Music: Luciano's Back in Town”, in Time:
- Needy, venal and entirely unencumbered with self-knowledge or native wit, the Duchess is yet again the architect of her own misfortune.2011 March 9, Judith Woods, “The Royal Family: Put a royal sock in it, Sarah”, in telegraph.co.uk, retrieved 04 Apr 2011:
- Synonyms
- good sense, mother wit