irony vs wit

irony

noun
  • An ironic statement. 

  • Contradiction between circumstances and expectations; condition contrary to what might be expected. 

  • Dramatic irony: a theatrical effect in which the meaning of a situation, or some incongruity in the plot, is understood by the audience, but not by the characters in the play. 

  • Socratic irony: ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist. 

  • The quality of a statement that, when taken in context, may actually mean something different from, or the opposite of, what is written literally; the use of words expressing something other than their literal intention, often in a humorous context. 

adj
  • Of or pertaining to the metal iron. 

  • The food had an irony taste to it. 

wit

noun
  • Humour, especially when clever or quick. 

  • Sanity. 

  • A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty. 

  • The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints. 

  • Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning. 

  • Intelligence; common sense. 

How often have the words irony and wit occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )