Word.ws English Dictionary

brevity is the soul of wit

brevity is the soul of wit proverb: conciseness of expression is an essential characteristic of astute, perceptive, or witty remarks.

Proverb

brevity is the soul of wit

  1. Conciseness of expression is an essential characteristic of astute, perceptive, or witty remarks.
    • The same complaint must be made against Mr. Matthew's excellent survey of the theory of evolution, as against Dr. Erasmus Darwin's original exposition of the same theory, namely, that it is too short. It may be very true that brevity is the soul of wit, but the leaders of science will generally...1879, Samuel Butler, chapter 18, in Evolution, Old & New
    • "[I]f people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."1912, R. Austin Freeman, chapter 5, in The Mystery of 31 New Inn

brevity is the soul of wit meaning in Hindi and Arabic

brevity is the soul of wit in Hindi

conciseness is essential to witty remarks
संक्षिप्तता बुद्धि की आत्मा है saṅkṣiptatā buddhi kī ātmā hai

brevity is the soul of wit in Arabic

conciseness is essential to witty remarks
خَيْرُ الكَلَامِ مَا قَلَّ وَدَلَّ ḵayru l-kalāmi mā qalla wadalla

Origin of brevity is the soul of wit

Coined by William Shakespeare in 1602 in "Hamlet," act 2, scene 2: : Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, : And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, : I will be brief: your noble son is mad...

Questions about brevity is the soul of wit

What does brevity is the soul of wit mean?
Brevity is the soul of wit means conciseness of expression is an essential characteristic of astute, perceptive, or witty remarks.
What is brevity is the soul of wit in Hindi?
Brevity is the soul of wit in Hindi is संक्षिप्तता बुद्धि की आत्मा है (saṅkṣiptatā buddhi kī ātmā hai). See Brevity is the soul of wit meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is brevity is the soul of wit?
Brevity is the soul of wit is a proverb.

Words near brevity is the soul of wit in the dictionary

  1. brevities
  2. brevitoxin
  3. brevity
  4. brevity code
  5. brevity codes
  6. brevity is the soul of wit
  7. brevium
  8. brevotoxin
  9. brevotoxins
  10. brevs
  11. brew

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brevity is the soul of wit (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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