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Glite Dictionary
🤪 Foolish or stupid 😱 Extremely
witless

witless

3 8.1
Very much, for example when someone is scared or bored
  • adjective
  • /ˈwɪtləs/
  • Informal
translation icon : muerto de miedo
  • When the thunder struck, the dog was so scared witless that it hid under the bed.
  • scare me witless
  • scared witless

Examples

  • They are paying to scare themselves witless.

    Blog text (32)

  • The Omen was a 1976 movie that scared me witless.

    Blog text (24)

  • "Sweet heaven, you scared me witless.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • "Didn't I have enough to scare me witless yesterday?

    Fiction book (1991)

  • What they see scares them witless, but it pushes them into action.

    Blog text (18)

  • No more than half-grown youngsters, scared witless, huddled in a corner, clasping arms around each other.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Scared witless, I jammed on the brakes and skidded to the brink of a landslide that had obliterated the muddy track.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The sudden loud noise scared her witless, leaving her frozen in place.

  • Watching that horror movie alone at night made him feel witless with fear.

Synonyms

shitless
vswitless
  • Offensive
24 9.9

Comes after a verb to mean extremely, often rude

is neutral in tone rather than vulgar and informal

How Intense

witless
  • Informal
3 8.1
really
∞ 1.0
rather
∞ 1.0
a little
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

witless positive

Morphology

witless = wit (semi-transparent) = wit + less

Formally 'wit' + '-less' is clear, but the sense as an intensifier after verbs ('scare witless') is a grammaticalized/idiomatic use not fully deducible from components.

Etymology

Witless comes from wit 'mind' and -less 'without'. A helpful way to remember its use after verbs (as in 'bored witless' or 'scared witless') is to think 'so bored or so scared that you lose your mind', so here it means 'extremely'.