wise
see also: Wise, WISE
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English wis, wys, from Old English wīs, from Proto-Germanic *wīsaz, from Proto-Indo-European *weydstos, *weydtos, a participle form of *weyd-.

Cognate with Dutch wijs, German weise, Norwegian - and 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.
  2. (colloquial, ironic, sarcastic) Disrespectful.
    Don't get wise with me!
  3. (colloquial) Aware, informed (to something).
    Be careful: the boss is wise to your plan to call out sick.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Verb

wise (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.
Etymology 2

From Middle English wise, from Old English wīse, from Proto-Germanic *wīsō.

Noun

wise (plural wises)

  1. (archaic) Way, manner, or method.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Matthew 1:18 ↗:
      Now the birth of Iesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Ioseph (before they came together) shee was found with childe of the holy Ghost.
    • 1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVIII, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC ↗:
      Meantime a serious question came up for discussion. […] The discussion arose somewhat in this wise. The President of the Society was Mr. Hills, proprietor of the Thames Iron Works. He was a puritan. […]
Etymology 3

From Middle English wisen, from Old English wisian, from Proto-West Germanic *wīsijan, from Proto-Germanic *wīsaną, *wīsijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-.

Cognate with Dutch wijzen, German weisen, Danish - and Norwegian Bokmål vise, Norwegian Nynorsk visa.

Verb

wise (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.

Wise
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. A twp in Isabella County, Michigan.
  3. An unincorporated community in Warren County, North Carolina.
  4. A town/county seat in Wise County, Virginia.

WISE
Noun

wise (plural wises)

  1. (aviation, nautical) Acronym of wing-in-surface effect
Synonyms
  • wing-in-surface-effect, wing in surface-effect, wing-in-surface effect, wing in surface effect
Proper noun
  1. (space science, US) Acronym of w:Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope that performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3-22 μm wavelength bands



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