Gist

Quick meaning: Gist is a noun meaning (countable) The main idea or substance, or the most essential part, of a longer or more complicated matter; the crux, the heart, the pith.

Meaning

(countable) The main idea or substance, or the most essential part, of a longer or more complicated matter; the crux, the heart, the pith.

More Meanings

1. (countable, law, dated) The essential ground for action in a lawsuit, without which there is no cause of action; the gravamen.
2. (uncountable, Nigeria) Gossip, rumour; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (programming) A sharable snippet of source code, especially on the version controlled pastebin-hosting site GitHub Gist.
4. (intransitive, Nigeria) To talk idly; chat; also, to gossip.
5. (transitive) To extract and present the main ideas or substance, or the most essential parts of (a document, piece of writing, etc.); to abridge, to summarize.
6. (obsolete) A stop for lodging or rest in a journey, or the place where this happens; a rest.

Example Sentences

I don't wanna belabor my point; I'm sure you get the gist.

I don't remember his exact words, but the gist of it was that he wanted it all for nothing, as quickly as possible, without any effort.

There's evidence that even our unconscious efficiently only stores the gists of memories and that to fill in details our conscious fabricates them.

The gists of the reports, however, their logic, their structural coherence, are molded by a concern to reconstruct the past, by antiquarian interest.

Word Forms

• gists
• gisting
• gisted

Synonyms for gist

Depending on context, synonyms include bowels, sum, core, crux, essence, drift.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include nitty-gritty, substance, essence, effect, sum, inwardness.

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