witling
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A pretender to wit; a would-be wit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- noun A person who has little wit or understanding; a pretender to wit or smartness.
Examples
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He's the underdog you root for; a victimized witling in a land of condescending Talented.
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Nay, though it well may raise a smile of ridicule (not on the lips of a grave man perhaps, but of some facetious witling) to hear me say it, a beauty like the cadence of sweet music dwells even in pots and pans set out in neat array: and so, in general, fair things ever show more fair when orderly bestowed.
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More than one captain and more than one book on war had told Conan what his own sense said: Never trust your enemy to be a witling.
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Show me a perfectly happy man, and I will show you an ignorant witling, light-headed, hardhearted, and of a most powerfully good digestion!
Note
The word 'witling' may ultimately come from an Indo-European root meaning 'to see'.
