"witling" meaning in English

See witling in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: witlings [plural]
Etymology: Etymology tree English wit English -ling English witling From wit + -ling. Etymology templates: {{ety|en|:af|wit|-ling|text=+|tree=1}} Etymology tree English wit English -ling English witling From wit + -ling. Head templates: {{en-noun}} witling (plural witlings)
  1. A person who feigns wit, pretending or aspiring to be witty.
    Sense id: en-witling-en-noun-ECmZSTnw Categories (other): English entries referencing missing etymons, English entries with etymology texts, English entries with etymology trees, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ling, Pages using etymon with no ID, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Pages with etymology trees, People Disambiguation of English entries referencing missing etymons: 47 53 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology texts: 47 53 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology trees: 47 53 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 55 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ling: 52 48 Disambiguation of Pages using etymon with no ID: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 45 55 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 46 54 Disambiguation of Pages with etymology trees: 47 53 Disambiguation of People: 100 0
  2. A person with very little wit.
    Sense id: en-witling-en-noun-F2g4rN2r Categories (other): English entries referencing missing etymons, English entries with etymology texts, English entries with etymology trees, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ling, Pages using etymon with no ID, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Pages with etymology trees Disambiguation of English entries referencing missing etymons: 47 53 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology texts: 47 53 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology trees: 47 53 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 55 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ling: 52 48 Disambiguation of Pages using etymon with no ID: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 45 55 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 46 54 Disambiguation of Pages with etymology trees: 47 53

Inflected forms

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":af",
        "3": "wit",
        "4": "-ling",
        "text": "+",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nEnglish wit\nEnglish -ling\nEnglish witling\nFrom wit + -ling.",
      "name": "ety"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nEnglish wit\nEnglish -ling\nEnglish witling\nFrom wit + -ling.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "witlings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "witling (plural witlings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries referencing missing etymons",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with etymology texts",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
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          "name": "English entries with etymology trees",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "45 55",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ling",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages using etymon with no ID",
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        {
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          "_dis": "100 0",
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          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              23,
              32
            ]
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          "ref": "1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 12, lines 218–221:",
          "text": "I ne'r vvith VVits and VVitlings paſt my days, / To ſpread about the Itch of Verſe and Praiſe, / Nor like a Puppy daggled thro' the Tovvn, / To fetch and carry Sing-ſong up and dovvn; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who feigns wit, pretending or aspiring to be witty."
      ],
      "id": "en-witling-en-noun-ECmZSTnw",
      "links": [
        [
          "wit",
          "wit"
        ],
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          "witty"
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      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
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          "_dis": "47 53",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with etymology trees",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ling",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages using etymon with no ID",
          "parents": [],
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        {
          "_dis": "45 55",
          "kind": "other",
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        },
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          "_dis": "46 54",
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          "name": "Pages with entries",
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        },
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          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with etymology trees",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1942, Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua:",
          "text": "\"But the witlings of the bunch were those two swaggering there in the popular conception of western dress....\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              11,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1955, Rex Stout, Immune to Murder:",
          "text": "\"...only a witling would call a man with my conceit a liar.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person with very little wit."
      ],
      "id": "en-witling-en-noun-F2g4rN2r"
    }
  ],
  "word": "witling"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries referencing missing etymons",
    "English entries with etymology texts",
    "English entries with etymology trees",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -ling",
    "Pages using etymon with no ID",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Pages with etymology trees",
    "en:People"
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  "etymology_templates": [
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        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nEnglish wit\nEnglish -ling\nEnglish witling\nFrom wit + -ling.",
      "name": "ety"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nEnglish wit\nEnglish -ling\nEnglish witling\nFrom wit + -ling.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "witlings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "witling (plural witlings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              23,
              32
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 12, lines 218–221:",
          "text": "I ne'r vvith VVits and VVitlings paſt my days, / To ſpread about the Itch of Verſe and Praiſe, / Nor like a Puppy daggled thro' the Tovvn, / To fetch and carry Sing-ſong up and dovvn; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who feigns wit, pretending or aspiring to be witty."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "wit",
          "wit"
        ],
        [
          "witty",
          "witty"
        ]
      ]
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    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              17
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1942, Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua:",
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              11,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1955, Rex Stout, Immune to Murder:",
          "text": "\"...only a witling would call a man with my conceit a liar.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person with very little wit."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "witling"
}

Download raw JSONL data for witling meaning in English (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-06-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (03da280 and 7f4db16). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.