• IPA: /waɪz/

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.

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.

• See Thesaurus:wise

• unwise
• foolish

• French: sage
• German: weise, klug
• Italian: saggio
• Portuguese: sábio, sensato
• Russian: му́дрый
• Spanish: sabio, juicioso, sapiente

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.

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

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. […]

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.

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.

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 (plural wises)

1. (aviation, nautical) Acronym of wing-in-surface effect

• wing-in-surface-effect, wing in surface-effect, wing-in-surface effect, wing in surface effect

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