witless
adjEtymology From Middle English witles, from Old English witlēas (“senseless; witless”), from Proto-Germanic *witjalausaz (“witless”), equivalent to wit + -less. Cognate with Swedish vettlös (“senseless; witless; wild”), Icelandic vitlaus (“senseless; witless; foolish; mad”).
1
Lacking wit or understanding; foolish.
- Then will we march to all thoſe Indian Mines, My witleſſe brother to the Chriſtians loſt: And ranſome them with fame and vſurie.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene v:
- To be his whore, is witles; Out upon't;1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 31:
2
Indiscreet; not using clear and sound judgment.
3
Mindless, lacking conscious thought or the capacity for it.
- Rage warps my clearest cry To witless agony.1941, Theodore Roethke, “Open House”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 3:
- Antonyms
- witful
- Derived terms
- witless wonder, witlessly, witlessness