English - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /waɪz/
• Rhymes: -aɪz

English - Etymology 1

From Middle English wis, wys, from Old English wīs (“wise”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsaz (“wise”), from a participle form of Proto-Indo-European *weyd-. Cognate with Dutch wijs, German weise, Swedish vis. Compare wit.

Adjective

wise (comparative wiser, superlative wisest)

1. 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.

   "It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish" - Aeschylus

2. (colloquial) Disrespectful.

   Don't get wise with me!

Usage notes

• Objects: person, decision, advice, counsel, saying, etc.

Antonyms

• unwise
• foolish

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

wise (third-person singular simple present wises, present participle wising, simple past and past participle wised)

1. To become wise.
2. (ergative, slang) Usually with "up", to inform or learn.

   Mo wised him up about his situation.

   After Mo had a word with him, he wised up.

English - Etymology 2

From Old English wīse, from Proto-Germanic *wīsō. Cognate with Dutch wijze, German Weise, Swedish visa, vis, Italian guisa, Spanish guisa. Compare -wise.

Noun

wise (plural wises)

1. (archaic) Way, manner, method.
   • 1850 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Burden of Nineveh, lines 2-5

     ... the prize

     Dead Greece vouchsafes to living eyes, —

     Her Art for ever in fresh wise

     From hour to hour rejoicing me.

   • 1866, Algernon Swinburne, A Ballad of Life, lines 28-30

     A riven hood was pulled across his eyes;

     The token of him being upon this wise

     Made for a sign of Lust.

   • 1926, J. S. Fletcher, Sea Fog, page 308

     And within a few minutes the rest of us were on our way too, judiciously instructed by Parkapple and the Brighton official, and disposed of in two taxi-cabs, the drivers of which were ordered to convey us to Rottingdean in such wise that each set his load of humanity at different parts of the village and at the same time that the bus was due to arrive at the hotel.

Derived terms

• -wise

English - Etymology 3

From Middle English wisen (“to advise, direct”), from Old English wisian (“to show the way, guide, direct”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsaną, *wīsijaną (“to show the way, dispense knowledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to know”). Cognate with Dutch wijzen (“to indicate, point out”), German weisen (“to show, indicate”), Danish vise (“to show”).

Verb

wise (third-person singular simple present wises, present participle wising, simple past and past participle wised)

1. (dialectal) to instruct
2. (dialectal) to advise; induce
3. (dialectal) to show the way, guide
4. (dialectal) to direct the course of, pilot
5. (dialectal) to cause to turn

قافية