nitty
Syllables: nit·ty/ˈnɪtiː/US/ˈnɪti/
nitty adjective: full of nits.
Adjective (1)
nitty (comparative nittier or more nitty, superlative nittiest or most nitty)
- Full of nits.
- About mid-night do I walke, and for the trickes I play they call me Pach. When I find a slut asleepe, I smuch her face if it be cleane; but if it be durty, I wash it in the next pisse-pot that I can finde: the balls I use to wash such sluts withal is a sows pancake or a pilgrimes salve. Those that...a. 1588, “The Trickes of the Fayry Called Pach”, in Robin Good-Fellovv, His Mad Prankes, and Merry Iests: […], London: Printed [by Miles Flesher?] for F[rancis] Groue […], published 1628, →OCLC...
- Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and...1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III
- Synonyms:
- lousy
- Foolish, inane.
- Stephen Colbert went overtime to get into the “nitty crazy” of President Donald Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, noting that, he was shaken to his core, but “at 54, there’s not a lot of core left.”2018 July 17, Melissa Lockyer, “Putin’s Press Conference with Trump Shook Stephen Colbert to His Core”, in Time, archived from the original on 19 Jul 2018
- Synonyms:
- dumb, idiotic, addlebrained, addlepated, airheaded, bee-brained, beef-witted, soft, beefheaded, beetle-headed
Noun
nitty (plural nitties)
- A dope fiend, a druggie.
- See me breeze in a cream Bentley / Fronting in the sun that’s two-seated / Believe it, pull up to the light and now you looking defeated / Girl, grilling my ice got you heated (yeah) / Yep, beef with the nitty I never needed (wha-wha)1998 September 15, “Fiend ’98”, in Respect, performed by Shaquille O’Neal
- Trapping ain't dead, the nitty still clucking and ringing my phone / Chilling with bro, talking ’bout money, dough to the dome2016 February 22, “Let’s Lurk”, Monkey (lyrics), performed by 67 ft Giggs
Adjective (2)
nitty (comparative nittier or more nitty, superlative nittiest or most nitty)
- detailed or specific; fastidious, fussy, nit-picky.
- Clearly, it’s that Secretariat is overrated. OK, exhale. I’m not trolling you. I’m just being extremely nitty about the marginal shades of “really, really great.” By “overrated,” I certainly don’t mean to imply that Secretariat isn’t the best 3-year-old American racehorse in history – he is.2015 June 12, Benjamin Morris, “Where Have You Gone, Secretariat?”, in FiveThirtyEight, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2016
- There are only a few nits to pick. The nittiest is, of course, the supposed needlessness^([sic – meaning needless]) death of the dumb and worthless Rickon Stark.2016 June 20, Ned Lannamann, “Slog: Game of Thrones Recap! Talk Is Cheap in ‘The Battle of the Bastards’”, in The Stranger, Seattle, Wash., archived from the original on 30 Nov 2017
- Synonyms:
- anal-retentive, choosy, conscientious, dainty, exacting, fastidious, finical, finicking, finickity, finicky
- Of a poker player: playing in an overly cautious and reactive manner.
- Over the past year and a half Isildur1 has captivated the poker community with his overly aggressive play and mesmerizing swings in the highest cash games online. His most intriguing characteristic isn’t his combativeness or his disregard for money; however, it’s his anonymity. […] [Phil] Hellmuth...2011 January 7, Rich Ryan, “PokerNews Top Five: Isildur1 Dream List”, in PokerNews, archived from the original on 01 Sep 2016
- I recently played the following hand in a $2–$5 game in Las Vegas. I had a $1,000 stack. A nitty regular player opened from under the gun for $20 with a $1,000 stack. Another nitty player directly to my right called. This player had about $350 behind.2012 July 29, Ed Miller, “Poker Strategy With Ed Miller – Bet Sizing Tells: Knowing what to Look For”, in Card Player, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2016
Adjective (3)
nitty (comparative more nitty, superlative most nitty)
- Shining; elegant, spruce.
- O dapper, rare, complete, sweet nitty youth! / Jesu Maria! How his clothes appear / Cross'd and recross'd with lace, sure for some fear / Lest that some spirit with a tippet mace / Should with a ghastly show affright his face.1598, John Marston, “Satire III. Quædam et sunt, et videntur.”, in The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image. And Certaine Satyres, At London: printed [by James Roberts] for Edmond Matts, […], →OCLC...
Examples of nitty in a sentence
- I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:
- Sure thy father was ſome botcher, and thy hungry tongue bit off theſe ſhreds of complaints, to patch up the elbows of thy nitty eloquence.1622, Phillip Messenger [i.e., Philip Massinger]; Thomas Deker [i.e., Thomas Dekker], The Virgin Martir: A Tragedie. […], London: Printed...
- It is a very difficult thing to make a good yarn of nitty [cotton] stock.1907 November, J. F. M., “Questions and Answers [Setting Cotton Cards]”, in Textile World Record: Combining The Textile World and Textile...
- Finally, any nitty survivors are meticulously combed out, strand by strand.2017 December 17, Susannah Constantine, “Susannah Constantine’s unusual nit infestation gets treated by head vacuum”, in The New Zealand...
Synonyms of nitty
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- beetle-headed
- birdbrained
- blockheaded
- Boeotian
- boneheaded
- boofheaded
- braindead
- brainless
- bubbleheaded
- buffle-headed
- bullet-headed
- cerebrally challenged
- childish
- chowderheaded
- chuckleheaded
- crackbrained
- cretinous
- daft
- dense
- dented
- dim-bulb
- dim-headed
- dim-witted
- dim
- doltish
- dopey
- dozy
- drowsy
- dull-headed
- dull-minded
Forms of nitty
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | nittier |
| comparative | more nitty |
| superlative | nittiest |
| superlative | most nitty |
| alternative form | nittie |
| Noun | |
| plural | nitties |
Origin of nitty
From nit + -y. The “foolish, inane” adjective sense is from nit (“fool, nitwit”), possibly under the influence of nutty (“crazy, mad”). The origin of the noun sense (“dope fiend, druggie”) is unknown, but could refer to a person who is under the influence of drugs to the extent that he or she is careless about personal hygiene and unkempt. Compare the verb nit (“to be a nitty”).
Probably from nitty(-gritty).
A clipping of nitid (“bright, lustrous, shining”), or directly derived from Latin nitidus (“glittering, shining”), from niteō (“to glitter, shine; to look beautiful or bright”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ney- (“to shine”)) + -idus (“tending to”).
Words formed from nitty
Phrases with nitty
Words that rhyme with nitty
Questions about nitty
- What does nitty mean?
- Nitty means full of nits.
- How do you use nitty in a sentence?
- I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]
- What part of speech is nitty?
- Nitty can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce nitty?
- Nitty is pronounced /ˈnɪtiː/ (UK).
Words near nitty in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nitty (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-nitty.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nitty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nitty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.