Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To taunt, ridicule, or tease, especially for embarrassing mistakes or faults. See Synonyms at ridicule.
- n. The act or an instance of twitting.
- n. A reproach, gibe, or taunt.
- n. Slang A foolishly annoying person.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A thin, weak place in a thread of wool, cotton, etc.
- To reproach; upbraid, especially with, past follies, errors, or offenses; annoy by reproaches; taunt.
- To charge or reproach with; upbraid on account of; bring forward as a taunt.
- Synonyms Chaff, Mock, etc. See taunt.
- n. A reproach; a taunt; an upbraiding or gibing reminder or insinuation.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease.
- v. transitive, computing To ignore or killfile (a user on a bulletin board system).
- n. A reproach, gibe or taunt.
- n. A foolish or annoying person.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To vex by bringing to notice, or reminding of, a fault, defect, misfortune, or the like; to revile; to reproach; to upbraid; to taunt.
WordNet 3.0
- n. aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing
- n. someone who is regarded as contemptible
- v. harass with persistent criticism or carping
Etymologies
- Originally twite, an aphetism of Middle English atwite. (Wiktionary)
- Short for obsolete atwite, from Middle English atwiten, from Old English ætwītan : æt, at; + wītan, to reproach. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Tampa twit is a big fan since he is now the second stupidest troll at Think Progress, now that Big John has showed up.”
Think Progress » Did Palin write the answers to Tea Party Convention questions on her hand?
“Twitter has earned plenty of developer ire for its release of official products that will likely quash those offered by independent players in its historically vibrant developer community, and its policing of third-party applications that include the word "twit" or "tweet" has had plenty of opponents as well.”
“So, this little twit is making a value judgment about two performers based on hearing only one song that one of them performed?”
Adam Lambert Responds To Clay Aiken Controversy — “He Can Ride My Coattails”
“Read's latest twit is that he is on Eurostar going where there is no Internet, so he won't be able to answer any questions.”
“January 3rd, 2010 11: 10 am ET so what this twit is saying is someone had to be killed before it is lile 9/11. how dare he make light of peoples lives. this should not be happening any time there is an attempt it should be considered like 9/11. the only difference is 9/11 did happen, and with the christmas attempt the citzens on the plane were the ones who stopped the attempt.”
“Most celebrity blogs only contain twit-level content anyways and seeing how popular some are (see: Kamiji Yusuke), I can see Japanese people checking their keitai for the latest updates on their favorite celebs.”
“A quitter, lier, cheater, hater, bigot, uneducated ... ... ... twit is what these people think is their future?”
“I can't believe this twit is dectiating what the healthcare should and should not be.”
Lieberman: I'll back health care bill without Medicare expansion
“That twit is such phony outrage and hypocrisy personified …”
“This self aggrandizing twit is convinced that she's on the road to sainthood.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘twit’.
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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UK - slang
chin wag, arse about, bollock, starkers, sweet Fanny Adams, skive, shufti, codswallop, rhyming slang, bollocks, nookie, skew-whiff and 208 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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funny & derogatory
WARNING: VERY EXPLICIT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
funny derogatory names, quotes, phrases.
( open list, randomness, ad hom, ad hominem )
also see:
buttfucking quitter, dirty sanchez, donkey punch, falcon punch, assbadger, unicorn turd, assclown, fudgenut, quackery, friggin homo, buttmuncher, jackwagon and 274 more... -
unkind words
unkind words or those refering them.
twit, gibe, blockhead, bonehead, cretin, dullard, imbecile, simpleton, clod, dunce, simp, ignoramus and 39 more...
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The Nerd
All the names any successful nerd can ever hope to be called.
dweeb, dork, drip, oaf, egghead, geek, twit, goofball, loser, swot, wimp, bonehead and 5 more...
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Wishy-Washy-Wordie
learn something new or stump a friend -
booger, digger, facetious, ostentatious, pretentious, lush, lumpy, grumpy, avatar, twit, twitter
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HollieGolightly's list
indigo, flippant, quaint, ebullience, subterfuge, conspicuous, surreptitiously, kodachrome, doppelganger, hullabaloo, nabob, motley and 21 more...
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wit
with wit mess (between less & ness)
wit, wot, wote, wost, wist, weeting, sense, wite, witticism, insulse, wittiness, wittiness witness and 31 more...
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words
my words. my mind. my gosh.
try not to enjoy it too much.git, ghoti, sauce, quail, querulous, quarrelsome, reliability, untoward, incongruities, fission, fanatic, apple and 206 more...
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Retro Words
...bringing them back
hotsy-totsy, loligag, swimmingly, rouge, twit, tarnashin', okey dokey, whoopsy daisey, five and dime
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bootload's Words
grouse, beaut, ripper, gassit, hack, hacking, twit, spon, goon, rosella, magpie, galah and 184 more...
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ashton's Words
genocide, boingy, umwelt, zeitgeist, fungible, vorpal, spawn, discordian, fnord, surreptitious, xyzzy, corruption and 122 more...
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wunderkammer's Words
smarmy, bubkes, elucidate, togs, aeolian, carp, kibosh, bosky, ramshackle, mange, harpy, effervesce and 163 more...
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Beknownst1981's list
I love words, especially the ones I make up with my friends.
translucent meat ..., beknownst (knew), plethora, curmudgeon, wanderlust, actually, differentiate, bearded, hobbit feet, female, sexy time, librarian and 220 more...
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Name-Calling for Fun and Profit
I figured out the thing all these terms have in common, besides that they can be used as insults. They all crack me up.
drip, yahoo, dweeb, nimrod, wanker, nincompoop, weasel, skank, fussbudget, dink, twit, guttersnipe and 125 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for twit.
fbharjo a weak place to cotton to(o) (near( and dear)) ! It is thinfull! (Oh so fine a find!)
Nov 19, 2012
fbharjo What a margaritaceous comment! It's thinful!
Sep 12, 2010
knitandpurl I knew this word as a noun but not as a verb - until I read this:
"The view from the bridge over the Serpentine has an extraordinary nobleness, and it has often seemed to me that the Londoner twitted with his low standard may point to it with every confidence."
English Hours by Henry James, p 10 of the Oxford University Press paperback edition Sep 11, 2010
lea BTW: The goldfish are not silent, pregnant or not. Two quotes from the animal communication group at Facebook:Goldfish are surprisingly chatty! Whenever we head to Walmart, I stop to talk with the fish. The goldfish are all so talkative and giddy. So are our golden dojo loaches and the irridescent sharks. -- I had two golden dojo's, they were amazing! I loved sitting in front of the aquarium and talk to them for hours. They were truly wonderful to speak with. I had a gold fish that lived for over 8 years, he was very talkative as well." Things are not always as they seem to be. Mar 10, 2009
reesetee *checks pockets*
*checks pockets again*
Darn. Where's that pig bladder when you need it? Jun 26, 2008
Prolagus *gets a pig bladder in his face by accident, and can finally sleep* Jun 26, 2008
Prolagus Hey, there's life on Mars... Jun 26, 2008
bilby *whumps frogapplause with a pig bladder* Jun 26, 2008
frogapplause I'm in the mood for a pig-bladder fight RIGHT NOW! Jun 26, 2008
yarb Twits with bells on their ankles
belt each other with pig bladders.
- Peter Reading, Almanac, from Nothing for Anyone, 1977 Jun 26, 2008
mollusque And since silence is golden... May 8, 2008
sionnach I had a goldfish named Chad. After Tiffany brought her goldfish, Rebecca, over for a sleepover, we discovered the we had a pregnant Chad on our hands.
Chad was the son of a very famous, but strict, federal judge, known as hanging Chad. May 8, 2008
asativum Surely if silence can be pregnant, a goldfish can be too... May 8, 2008
whichbe Ah, then the 'twit' is ironic. (points to self) May 7, 2008
mollusque Goldfish lay eggs. They can't get pregnant. May 7, 2008
whichbe I wonder at what point misinformation like this becomes 'fact'. After all, when it comes to names of things, we might ask "according to whom?" May 7, 2008
sarra It's not! Neither is prat, twat or twerp. It's a very common urban legend (I heard it when I was very small). May 7, 2008