wise
adjEtymology
From Middle English wys, wyse, from Old English wīs (“wise”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsaz (“knowledgeable, wise”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéydos (“seeing; knowledge”), from *weyd- (“to see”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian wiis (“wise”), Dutch wijs (“wise”), German weis, weise (“wise”), Low German wies (“wise; clever”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish vis (“wise”), Icelandic vís (“wise; certain”), Gothic *𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*weis, “wise”); also Irish fios (“knowledge; information”), Manx fys (“knowledge; information”), Scottish Gaelic fhios, fios (“knowledge; information”), Welsh gwys, gwŷs (“citation, summons”), Latin videō (“to look, perceive, see; to note, observe; to comprehend, understand”), Greek είδος (eídos, “form, kind, type”), Albanian vizë (“line, stripe, track; dash”), Latvian veids (“form, kind, mode, type”), Lithuanian veidas (“face; appearance, aspect, look”), Belarusian ве́даць (vjédacʹ, “to know”), Bulgarian вям (vjam, “to know”), Czech vědět (“to know”), Polish wiedzieć (“to know”), Russian ве́дать (védatʹ, “to know”), Serbo-Croatian vedeti, viedieti (“to know”), Slovak vedieť (“to know”), Slovene vedeti (“to know”), Ukrainian ві́дати (vídaty, “to know”), Armenian գիտեմ (gitem, “I know”), գիտենալ (gitenal), գիտնալ (gitnal, “to know”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬛 (vaēd, “find”), 𐬬𐬌𐬛 (vid, “to know”), Persian نوید (navid / nawīd, nuwēd, “invitation; annunciation; good news”), Tocharian A ime (“awareness, consciousness, memory, thought”), Tocharian B īme (“awareness, consciousness, memory, thought”), ūwe (“educated, learned, knowledgeable”), Sanskrit वेदस् (vedas, “knowledge, science; property, wealth”). Compare wit.
- inherited from *wīsōn✻
Definitions
Showing good judgement or the benefit of experience.
- Storing extra food for the winter was a wise decision.
- They were considered the wise old men of the administration.
Disrespectful.
- Don't get wise with me!
Aware, informed (to something).
- Be careful: the boss is wise to your plan to call out sick.
›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer
To become wise.
Usually with "up", to inform or learn.
- Mo wised him up about his situation.
- After Mo had a word with him, he wised up.
Way, manner, or method.
- In such wise that all the beasts, great and small, came to the court save Reynard the Fox.
- Now the birth of Iesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Ioseph (before they came together) shee was found with childe of the holy Ghost.
- […] the prize Dead Greece vouchsafes to living eyes, — Her Art for ever in fresh wise From hour to hour rejoicing me.
To instruct.
To advise
To advise; induce.
To show the way, guide.
To direct the course of, pilot.
To cause to turn.
A surname.
A township in Isabella County, Michigan, United States.
An unincorporated community in Warren County, North Carolina, United States.
A town, the county seat of Wise County, Virginia, United States.
Acronym of wing-in-surface effect.
Acronym of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (“a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical…
Acronym of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (“a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope that performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3-22 μm wavelength bands”).
The neighborhood
- synonymastute
- synonymclairvoyant
- synonymdeep
- synonymfrood
- synonymgrounded
- synonymjudicious
- synonymoracular
- synonymperspicacious
- synonympolitic
- synonymprofound
- synonymprudent
- synonymquick-witted
- antonymunwise
- antonymfoolish
- neighborintelligent
- neighborlearned
- neighborwily
- neighborshrewd
- neighborstreetwise
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at wise. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at wise. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
10 hops · closes at wise
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA