Witticism

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Witticism \Wit"ti*cism\, n. [From {Witty}.]
     A witty saying; a sentence or phrase which is affectedly
     witty; an attempt at wit; a conceit. --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           He is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and


           witticisms; all which are below the dignity of heroic
           verse.                                   --Addison.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  witticism
       n : a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has
           the power to evoke laughter [syn: {wit}, {humor}, {humour},
            {wittiness}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  79 Moby Thesaurus words for "witticism":
     adage, ana, analects, aphorism, apothegm, axiom, bon mot, boutade,
     bright idea, bright thought, brilliant idea, byword, catchword,
     collected sayings, conceit, crack, current saying, dictate, dictum,
     distich, drollery, epigram, expression, facetiae, flash of wit,
     flight of wit, gag, gibe, gnome, golden saying, happy thought,
     jape, jest, maxim, moral, mot, motto, nasty crack, oracle,
     persiflage, phrase, pithy saying, play of wit, pleasantry, precept,
     prescript, proverb, proverbial saying, proverbs, quip,
     quips and cranks, repartee, retort, riposte, sally, saw, saying,
     scintillation, sentence, sententious expression, sloka,
     smart crack, smart saying, snappy comeback, stock saying,
     stroke of wit, sutra, teaching, text, turn of thought, verse,
     waggery, wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, wisecrack, word,
     words of wisdom, yak
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  WITTICISM, n.  A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted, and seldom
  noted; what the Philistine is pleased to call a "joke."