SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
witless
adjective
Showing little sense or intelligence in a particular action or remark.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Lacking good sense
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topWitless strongly criticizes lack of sense. Ill-advised can describe a poor decision without judging the person's intelligence.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See witless in use
The novel's narrator regrets a witless joke that undermined an otherwise thoughtful conversation.
A witless suggestion to solve missing-tool problems by removing every label would have made identification harder rather than addressing the confusion.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license