1
: a small handful (as of hay or straw)
2
a
: a thin strip or fragment
b
: a thready streak
a wisp of smoke
c
: something frail, slight, or fleeting
a wisp of a girl
a wisp of a smile
3
archaic
: will-o'-the-wisp
wisped; wisping; wisps
1
: to roll into a wisp
2
: to make wisps of
a cigarette wisping smoke at the corner of his mouth—
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
: to emerge or drift in wisps
her hair began to wisp into her eyes—Mary Manning
Mary ManningExamples of wisp in a Sentence
Noun
Wisps of steam rose up from the teapot.
Wisps of cotton candy clung to his mouth.
Recent Examples on the Web
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2024
In the low 70s when the rest of the state was suffering through a heatwave, and the fog on several occasions rolled in cinematically, the fast wisps preceding a cottony bank that blotted out the sun.
—Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2024
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 11 July 2024
Tropical trade winds blow in a band across the equator, spinning off cyclones and storms, which wisp away and scatter into westerly currents.
—Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 17 Dec. 2015
See all Example Sentences for wisp 
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Noun
Her voice has the quality of a non-Newtonian fluid, slick and solid, silver as a wisp of smoke.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2024
In the low 70s when the rest of the state was suffering through a heatwave, and the fog on several occasions rolled in cinematically, the fast wisps preceding a cottony bank that blotted out the sun.
—Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2024
Verb
There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, not even a cirrus wisp or fading contrail.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 11 July 2024
Tropical trade winds blow in a band across the equator, spinning off cyclones and storms, which wisp away and scatter into westerly currents.
—Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 17 Dec. 2015
See all Example Sentences for wisp
Dictionary Entries Near wisp
Cite this Entry
“Wisp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wisp. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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