What's the difference between pithy and witty?

Pithy


Definition:

  • (superl.) Consisting wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a pithy fruit.
  • (superl.) Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) And while Altmejd presents sexual scenes of cartoonish horror and disgust, Lucas's art has embraced lavatorial humour, abjection, self-denigration, the pithy sculptural one-liner and the obscene gesture.
  • (2) This headline is a closely packed, multifaceted, pithy, rousing, basically perfect example of how strikes are presented in the tabloids, and have been for years.
  • (3) In fact, her pithy insults are deployed so regularly that colleagues on the spending watchdog have come up with the idea of playing “Margaret Hodge bingo”, scoring points when one of her putdowns pops out.
  • (4) The reshuffle had inspired some pithy one-liners and the PM was determined to deploy them all.
  • (5) Someone who bought tickets for a tennis event at the O2 sent me this pithy tweet: “4 tickets.
  • (6) There are plenty of 30-page documents and pithy slogans – but, as far as I can discover, nothing in between.
  • (7) It was a pithy line that feeds into the schtick about a bloated Brussels filled with born bureaucrats.
  • (8) The hawkish senator also defined his foreign policy: “A clenched fist and an open hand, you choose.” But the extent to which such pithy quips will help bolster Graham’s campaign – the senator is currently polling at 0.5% – remains questionable.
  • (9) But he has left Labour vulnerable over Brexit because the policy is so nuanced it cannot easily be boiled down to a pithy remark .
  • (10) Shortly after the YouTube sensation that was Jeremy Paxman's October interview with Russell Brand , Paxman wrote a pithy column about his disillusion with Westminster politics.
  • (11) Johnson, whose pithy interventions have caused embarrassment for all the major parties since the election campaign kicked off, opened the debate by stressing the gulf between the two major parties’ tax and spending plans.
  • (12) Sated by three years of Special One pyrotechnics, the British press might be ready to be charmed by Ramos' brand of quietly pithy humour.
  • (13) Obama: While the president generally struggled to get his "zingers" across, over-larding them with too much detail, he did get in a pithy dig about Romney's vague budget proposals which he claimed didn't add up.
  • (14) Jimmy Fallon, the host of the 2017 Golden Globes, has made a career of creating pithy viral moments that transcend television and resonate on the internet, but at this year’s ceremony the host was outdone by a bizarre recurring slip-up.
  • (15) In the months since their formation, the eight members of Pussy Riot have perfected their own form of protest: their songs are pithy, angry missives, largely directed at Putin, and they remain beguilingly anonymous – the band wear neon balaclavas to conceal their identities and perform flash gigs in unexpected places: on public transport, for example, and, once, on a prison roof.
  • (16) Instead, finance ministers signed up to a pithy list of bullet points, pledging to unleash all the policy weapons at their disposal against the crisis.
  • (17) The club was the brainchild of New Jersey shoe salesman Barney Josephson: a pithy antidote to the snooty, often racist elitism of other New York nightspots.
  • (18) But threnodies are not an argument, and memories are definitely not facts (Hobsbawm's pithy condemnation of oral history, delivered at a conference where I was due to speak, was terrifying).
  • (19) From a leader not known for her trenchant words or pithy sound bites her strong stance of the past few days has come as a surprise.
  • (20) You might expect he’d specialise in pithy one-liners, but in fact Delaney spins longer yarns onstage, all powered by a spirit of relentless cynicism.

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.