native wit

English

Noun

nativewit(uncountable)

1. Theintelligenceorcommon sensewith which one is normally born.
   • 1781,Samuel Johnson,“Samuel Butler”, inLives of the Poets:

     But the most valuable parts of his performance are those which retired study andnative witcannot supply.

   • c.1870,Bayard Taylor,“Mrs. Strongitharm's Report”, inBeauty and The Beast and Tales of Home:

     Nelly Kirkpatrick was a great, red-haired giant of a woman, very illiterate, but with somenative wit,and good-hearted enough, I am told, when she was in her right mind.

   • 1916,H. Rider Haggard,chapter 8, inThe Ivory Child:

     Or we might go practically unaccompanied, relying on ournative witand good fortune to attain our ends.

   • 1978March 6, “Music: Luciano's Back in Town”,inTime:

     But with hisnative witand musical intelligence, Pavarotti cannot act dumb.

   • 2011March 9, Judith Woods, “The Royal Family: Put a royal sock in it, Sarah”,intelegraph.co.uk,retrieved4 April 2011:

     Needy, venal and entirely unencumbered with self-knowledge ornative wit,the Duchess is yet again the architect of her own misfortune.

Synonyms

• good sense,mother wit