1
as in stupid
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
a dog so witless that it is barely trainable
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2
as in foolish
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
a witless decision to relocate to the other side of the country without even the prospect of a job
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Recent Examples of witless
Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a classic send-up of King Arthur and his witless band of knights, this 2005 hit musical, which garnered a pre-Chez Diaz Sara Ramirez a Tony, will land at the St. James Theatre this fall.
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Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 3 Aug. 2023
Tottenham’s players volunteering to reimburse those fans who had made the long journey to Newcastle — only to see their hapless, witless team fall 5-0 behind after 21 minutes — for the price of their tickets is a gesture rooted in the very finest of intentions.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2023
Our intolerable situation forces us to welcome such witless dolts to our side.
—Ana Marie Cox, The New Republic, 3 Apr. 2023
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is witless.
—Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2021
See all Example Sentences for witless 
Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 3 Aug. 2023
Tottenham’s players volunteering to reimburse those fans who had made the long journey to Newcastle — only to see their hapless, witless team fall 5-0 behind after 21 minutes — for the price of their tickets is a gesture rooted in the very finest of intentions.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2023
Our intolerable situation forces us to welcome such witless dolts to our side.
—Ana Marie Cox, The New Republic, 3 Apr. 2023
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is witless.
—Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2021
See all Example Sentences for witless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for witless
Adjective
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Give yourself permission to go see a truly stupid movie.Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US, theweek, 8 Nov. 2024
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Among the show’s many, many, many Twilight Zone spoofs, this one is the funniest and the best, with a conclusion that’s equal parts brilliant and stupid.Joshua Kurp, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The San Francisco 49ers would be foolish to trade Nick Bosa, but that's exactly what a California politician wants.Ryan Morik, Fox News, 30 Oct. 2024
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The authors concluded that any attempt to create a synthetic substance to replace the mud — something Major League Baseball has explored — would be foolish.Evan Bush, NBC News, 4 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Ratajkowski has been fighting the stereotype of the dumb model from the beginning of her career.Daniel Jackson, Allure, 18 July 2017
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Ninety nine percent of all NFL players are explicitly not dumb.Andy Benoit, The MMQB, 10 July 2017
Adjective
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In this show, everyone has their distinct personalities — Reneé as Leighton is sassy and dry and Pauline as Kimberly is sweet and a little silly, for example.Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Nov. 2024
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Here was this band of rebellious and silly kids in bright clothes rapping their asses off.Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Now starts a transitional phase, which is simultaneously slow and fast.Camila Domonoske, NPR, 22 Nov. 2024
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However, even for a slow jog, that’s exactly what happened.Caleb Harris, Austin American-Statesman, 22 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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After lightly chiding these gents for two movies, director Michael Winterbottom finally takes the knives out and begins to punish them, a decision that results in two late scenes that border on sociopathic and culminates in an unimaginably absurd ending that refuses to let Coogan off the hook.David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 19 Nov. 2024
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To envision European unity without the United States—as the authors attempt to do—is therefore absurd. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS O’Brien and Stringer try to address, in a practical way, the hard security questions Europe would face if abandoned by Washington.Sumantra Maitra, Foreign Affairs, 4 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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If peace has always been but a simple voluntary choice, the price of human imperfection has been paid in the coin of perpetual war.Henry A. Kissinger, Foreign Affairs, 18 Nov. 2024
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Or that a different definition will make a theory simpler.Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 18 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The sight of a covey of desert quail fills me with a mad, superhuman strength.Jack O’Connor, Outdoor Life, 6 Nov. 2024
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Then, like clockwork, a bunch of Democrats got mad.Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near witless
Cite this Entry
“Witless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/witless. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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