Outwit

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /aʊtˈwɪt/

Definitions

1. To defeat or get the better of someone through superior cleverness or cunning rather than through force or direct confrontation
2. To outsmart someone by employing greater intelligence or shrewdness in a situation rather than relying on brute strength or aggression
3. To achieve a strategic advantage over another by using wit or ingenuity instead of physical dominance or overt power

Etymology: The verb "outwit" is a plain compound: the prefix "out-", meaning "beyond" or "surpassing", joined to "wit", which in Old English meant knowledge or mind. Its roots run back through Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root for knowing, so the core of the word is ancient, even though the combination is much younger. Old English "witan" meant "to know," and it gave Middle English "witen" and then the noun "wit" as a faculty of the mind. Over time "wit" came to mean quick intelligence, and the sense of cleverness is what "outwit" builds on. Adding "out-" produced the sense of getting the better of someone by mental skill, rather than by force.

Synonyms: outsmart, outfox, beguile, trick, deceive

Antonyms: be fooled, be deceived, fail, surrender, submit