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A short clever remark that makes people smile. Not a joke with a set-up and a — a witticism is quick, it fits the moment, and it is usually made up on the spot. If someone says something at a meeting and you answer in six words in a way that turns it around, that is a witticism. The word is formal and slightly cool in tone. Here is the thing worth knowing: writers very often use it when the remark was NOT actually funny. "He offered a few witticisms" can quietly mean "he tried to be clever and nobody laughed". Watch for the surrounding words — attempted, so-called, tired, feeble — which push it that way. Used straight, without those signals, it is a compliment. It comes as a countable noun: a witticism, two witticisms. Verbs that go with it: make, offer, exchange, come out with. You will meet it in books, reviews, and news writing. In conversation people say "a clever line", "a good comeback", or just "she's funny".
妙語、俏皮話（機智的短評，有時帶「自以為好笑」的諷刺意味）
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
witticismnoun/ˈwɪ.tɪ.sɪz.əm/
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a witty remark; a bon mot; an epigram; a zinger.
- "Take any shape but that!" is what I always feel tempted to exclaim when dulness attempts a joke; striving to pervert some poor innocent and ill-used word from its lawful meaning till it ceases to have any at all—worrying some unfortunate idea till, like the hunted hare, it is worried to death—dealing in witticisms whose edge has long since been worn off by constant use; and truly to the many, witticisms not only require to be explained, like riddles, but are also like new shoes, which people require to wear many times before they get accustomed to them.
- Shock of the witticism is a powerful one; while mere fun will have no power over them if it jar on their moral taste.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。