What's the difference between unwitting and witless?

Unwitting


Definition:

  • (a.) Not knowing; unconscious; ignorant.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We’re going to splice this together with a tweet from Tory MP David Gauke this week in which he unwittingly revealed that the Star Wars set at Pinewood Studios features a brand new Death Star .
  • (2) His marker, it emerged, had been the subject of an unwitting bodycheck by his captain.
  • (3) The repurposing of the devices of unwitting users in foreign jurisdictions for covert attacks in the interests of one country’s national priorities is a dangerous precedent – contrary to international norms, and in violation of widespread domestic laws prohibiting the unauthorised use of computing and networked systems,” they conclude.
  • (4) My elder daughter unwittingly taught me, the first time I took her to one.
  • (5) She added: "Last year's revelations show that unencrypted communications can mean that journalists may be unwittingly handing over their contacts, footage or material, against their will."
  • (6) In their zeal to tout their faith in the public square, conservatives in Oklahoma may have unwittingly opened the door to a wide range of religious groups, including Satanists who are seeking to put their own statue next to a Ten Commandments monument outside the statehouse.
  • (7) It is the unwitting result of our use of fossil fuels.
  • (8) Bogdanor guessed that Green may have been arrested because he had 'unwittingly' disclosed sensitive security information.
  • (9) The foreign secretary, David Miliband, whose family roots are of Polish Jewish origin, has led the attacks on Cameron and his allies, perhaps unwittingly thrusting the debate over the second world war in eastern Europe into the early stages of a British election campaign.
  • (10) Failure to recognize a child's fabrication can subject the family to unnecessary legal action and unwittingly support the use of a similar manipulative technique by other susceptible children.
  • (11) In explaining both the nature of the material shut away and the causes of its being so, attention is called to the role that a child's parents play, wittingly or unwittingly.
  • (12) Dual prescribing or additional use of nonprescription salicylates are some causes of unwitting long term toxicity.
  • (13) He added: "It is now clear that the BBC failed the students, who were unwitting human fodder used to fulfil John Sweeney and his wife's personal ambition to film inside North Korea.
  • (14) But coyote is also used to denote a middleman, particularly one who takes advantage of unwitting farmers.
  • (15) All too unwittingly but effectively and increasingly, developed world citizens contribute to the rundown of the planet's natural resources that sustain everyone's welfare.
  • (16) England’s captain has worn the armband with distinction in many ways here in Brazil, but he played an unwitting part in both goals and it would be no way to end his international career.
  • (17) In the words of Samuel D. Gross: "The cases which may reasonably require and those which may not require interference with the knife are not always so clearly and distinctly defined as not to give rise, in very many instances, to the most serious apprehension ... that, while the surgeon endeavors to avoid Scylla, he may not unwittingly run into Charybdis, mutilating a limb that might have been saved, and endangering life by the retention of one that should have been promptly amputated."
  • (18) An Australian couple were unwittingly conned into becoming multi-million dollar drug mules after winning a dream trip to Canada with new luggage thrown in.
  • (19) But everything about such attacks is murky; finding the perpetrators is difficult if not impossible, as the architecture of the internet allows for hackers to mask their attack through unwitting users and anonymisation software.
  • (20) The unwitting vaginal and vulvar use of 5-FU in pregnancy did not result in significant morbidity or mortality; expectant management of such pregnancies should be considered.

Witless


Definition:

  • (a.) Destitute of wit or understanding; wanting thought; hence, indiscreet; not under the guidance of judgment.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He ends the song with something that is ostensibly scat but sounds like an old man being scared witless by a spider.
  • (2) "But she also divides the critics like that other old-school oddball, Norman Wisdom, who was written off as a witless, irritating idiot with a penchant for falling over by some, and seen as a comic genius by others."
  • (3) More often than not it's passed around at the back for a while, then eventually hoofed witlessly up one of the flanks, where any slim chance of creating bother is immediately lost.
  • (4) In the end Chelsea needed help to secure the win – and, not for the first time this season, Redknapp’s men came to their opponent’s aid, Vargas giving away a penalty with a witless shunt on Hazard in the 75th minute.
  • (5) The witless grandstanding by local MP Greg Mulholland in his call for NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh to resign is precisely the sort of intervention that is least helpful.
  • (6) It is six years, after all, since 2009, the year in which the comedian’s blossoming career and reputation took an abrupt and savage hit, thanks to his unloved eponymous sketch show with Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Horne (“ puerile and excruciating ”, according to the New Statesman), a critically mauled movie, Lesbian Vampire Killers (“a witless mess”, said the Telegraph), and a calamitous performance hosting the Brit awards with Horne, which even Corden has acknowledged was “shit, because of ego”.
  • (7) Oh come on, you say: no leading politician would be as witless as to do that.
  • (8) In a fascinating experiment at the University of Limerick a few years ago, participants were first bored witless by being made to do a repetitive task and then asked to suggest punishments for an imaginary Englishman convicted of beating up an Irishman.
  • (9) David Cameron and his cabinet currently tell me to be scared witless by Ebola, an attack from Isis, a resurgent Russia and global warming (sometimes).
  • (10) He slips the ball forward to Whittaker, but with dark blue shirts in the box, the full back blooters a witless effort miles over the bar from a silly distance.
  • (11) Cameron's critical failure to close a deal with Clegg on 25 extra Tory seats, coupled with his witless aid to Ukip, makes a Labour return to power more likely.
  • (12) Liverpool reached Wembley the way their journey in the Capital One Cup had begun against Carlisle United; requiring penalties to save them from a witless, careless performance that only improved once the Wales midfielder replaced Kolo Touré in the 85th minute.
  • (13) And the truth is, most of them were never in a recording studio again (2007) ON STEPHEN GATELY BEING GAY I had no idea… on my mother's life (2008) ON USING A "BANG" (BAND AUTOMATIC NAME GENERATOR) Some of the suggestions I got were Perky Gravy, Silk Radius, Witless and Curly Spam (2007) ON THE BEST THING ABOUT THE X FACTOR It's real, everything is real, nothing is staged (2007) ON GIRL BANDS There's a common perception that behind the scenes it's all catfights and screaming rows.
  • (14) Farron described abolition of the 50p rate as "morally repugnant" and "economically witless".
  • (15) Not surprisingly, the Russell Group is delighted, the National Union of Students is apoplectic and the Lib Dems are scared witless.
  • (16) Perhaps failing to reach the Champions League is a mercy: there is no telling what top-drawer continental opposition would do to this bloodless, witless Celtic team.
  • (17) No, when you're looking after what is in effect a witless midget with a death wish, some things go out of the window, including dressing yourself.
  • (18) ML BBC2 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Glue Those keen to write off all homegrown E4 dramas as witless Skins knock-offs would do well to check out Glue.
  • (19) Now it has, and markets are scared witless as a result.
  • (20) They are dark, unseen enemies, come from far away – and they are scaring us witless.