Word.ws English Dictionary

keep one's wits about one

keep one's wits about one is the alternative form of have one's wits about one.

Meaning of have one's wits about one

Verb

have one's wits about one (third-person singular simple present has one's wits about one, present participle having one's wits about one, simple past and past participle had one's wits about one)

  1. (idiomatic) To remain calm, composed, focused, or aware.
    • He was confused, half elated, half disappointed, and had not his wits about him.1869, Anthony Trollope, chapter 3, in Phineas Finn
    Synonyms:
    keep one's cool

Forms of keep one's wits about one

third-person singular presentkeeps one's wits about one
present participlekeeping one's wits about one
past participlekept one's wits about one
pastkept one's wits about one

Questions about keep one's wits about one

What is keep one's wits about one the alternative form of?
Keep one's wits about one is the alternative form of have one's wits about one.

Words near keep one's wits about one in the dictionary

  1. keep one's side of the bargain
  2. keep one's stick on the ice
  3. keep one's temper
  4. keep one's tits on
  5. keep one's voice down
  6. keep one's wits about one
  7. keep one's word
  8. keep oneself to oneself
  9. keep order
  10. keep out
  11. keep out of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep one's wits about one (page history and authors); have one's wits about one (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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