What's the difference between epigram and witty?

Epigram


Definition:

  • (n.) A short poem treating concisely and pointedly of a single thought or event. The modern epigram is so contrived as to surprise the reader with a witticism or ingenious turn of thought, and is often satirical in character.
  • (n.) An effusion of wit; a bright thought tersely and sharply expressed, whether in verse or prose.
  • (n.) The style of the epigram.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He has just released a new album, Epigrams and Interludes .
  • (2) Anna Karenina set out to be a tract against adultery in high society; "Vengeance is mine and I will repay," is the epigram on the novel's title page.
  • (3) "Bratza takes issue with the apparently resentful epigram coined by the late supreme court justice Lord Rodger: "Argentoratum locutum: iudicium finitum – Strasbourg has spoken, the case is closed".
  • (4) The play opens with a great comic tour de force as Lord Are attempts to have himself arranged by his servant in the manner of a Gainsborough painting so that he might appear at home in the countryside, all the time spouting epigrams worthy of Oscar Wilde: "A poem should be well cut and fit the page ... the secret of literary style lies in the margins."
  • (5) I don't know if the closing ceremony will quote those other indelible lines from Shakespeare's great valedictory play, The Tempest , to bookend the opening epigram, but you can't help feeling it should: "Our revels now are ended.
  • (6) On one level, we all know this stuff already - it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story.
  • (7) But these days, he is full of epigrams about looking on the bright side and some of his phrases feel as worn down as an ocean-tossed pebble, smoothed through years of repetition to reporters, his family, himself: "You get what you get and you don't get upset", "It is what it is."
  • (8) Stephen Galilee (@SjGalilee) I am supporting #australiansforcoal because anti-coal activists waste a lot of time entertaining themselves with smart arse tweets about it April 14, 2014 But maybe Galilee should remember the often-invoked Oscar Wilde epigram about publicity .
  • (9) Very often inscriptions--above all grave epigrams--with their great tradition from various times and localities provide many good examples of daily life including valuable references to the practice, ethics and social situation of physicians.
  • (10) But for a while he spoke only in lapidary epigrams.
  • (11) It should please those who prefer to have their clichés masquerading as epigrams."
  • (12) His own vocabulary and the heavily weighted emphasis of his speech is so embedded in public consciousness that it has become a comic style as recognisable as an epigram from Oscar Wilde or a line from one of his other literary heroes, PG Wodehouse.

Witty


Definition:

  • (n.) Possessed of wit; knowing; wise; skillful; judicious; clever; cunning.
  • (n.) Especially, possessing wit or humor; good at repartee; droll; facetious; sometimes, sarcastic; as, a witty remark, poem, and the like.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This House , his witty political drama set in the whips' office of 1970s Westminster, transferred from the National's Cottesloe theatre to the Olivier, following critical acclaim.
  • (2) That merriment is not just tankards and quaintness and mimsy Morris dancing, but a witty, angry and tender fire at the centre of Englishness.
  • (3) Witty's comments came as GSK unveiled lower first half sales and profits, and a further £500m of cost cuts by the end of 2015.
  • (4) We encourage people to speak up if they have concerns" #gsk July 24, 2013 12.29pm BST Witty says this investigation is "quite different" to the whistleblower claims the company recently investigated and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
  • (5) Pauline Kael, when reviewing the film, said, "Jane Fonda has been a charming, witty, nudie cutie in recent years, and now gets a chance at an archetypal character.
  • (6) His works are witty rather than wise, pacey not profound.
  • (7) Mohamedou Ould Slahi: “smart, witty, garrulous, and curiously undamaged” Another team inside the plane dragged me and fastened me on a small and straight seat.
  • (8) While researching his forthcoming book, A History of the World in Twelve Maps , Brotton sometimes brought up the "one-to-one map" idea, from Borges and Carroll, with people at Google, but they didn't find it particularly witty or intriguing.
  • (9) But I do try to find the good in everybody," Parton says perkily, and later proves it by describing Sylvester Stallone – her co-star in the deservedly little-seen 1984 film Rhinestone – as "just a nut, but so witty!".
  • (10) Best known in this country as the author of a large number of witty and provocative books - and as the Reith lecturer in 1966 - Galbraith was professor of economics at Harvard University from 1949 until his retirement in 1975, but was equally well known in the US as a distinguished civil servant and longtime, tireless adviser and campaigner for liberal Democrats and their causes.
  • (11) Critics who saw Budapest at the Berlin film festival, where it premiered this month, have called it "vibrant and imaginative" , "nimblefooted, witty" , and as a sucker for Anderson's stuff since his early days, I'd agree.
  • (12) He duly obliged and the crowd was treated to the first look at Age of Ultron, starting with a witty interchange between the Avengers as each, enjoying a drink and dressed in civilian clothing, tries to lift Thor’s hammer.
  • (13) Witty backed the prime minister’s efforts to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership.
  • (14) In an interview with the Observer , Witty said: "While the chief executive of the company could move, maybe the top 20 directors could move, what about the 16,000 people who work for us?
  • (15) And, in any case, Preston is obviously bright and witty and engaging.
  • (16) There is something very Avaazian about the crisistunity, I come to think, in that it's borrowed something slick and witty from popular culture and re-purposed it for something which used to be called the Greater Good.
  • (17) Sometimes, when stood by the bar, caught in the witty back-and-forth between two strange men, it feels like you're out in bad weather without a hat.
  • (18) Scottish Ballet: The Nutcracker In recent years, Christmas at Scottish Ballet has been defined by Ashley Page’s witty, acerbic re-writes of the 19th century classics.
  • (19) Seen as a warm and witty liberal, he founded the parliamentary bicycle pool and has earned the moniker the "bicycling baronet" (the Youngs featured on a British Rail poster promoting the transport of bicycles by rail in 1982).
  • (20) Witty was optimistic that “ultimately there are going to be some pragmatic decisions made” that would ensure companies were able to attract global talent.