English Dictionary

staircase wit

noun

(rare, idiomatic) Thinking of an idea or course of action too late to use it effectively, or the tendency to do so.

She displayed her staircase wit during the debate.

意味（1）

(rare, idiomatic) Thinking of an idea or course of action too late to use it effectively, or the tendency to do so.

When I have completed a manuscript, if I lay it away in a drawer or pigeon-hole, it lies there quietly enough, and my mind seems wholly discharged of it. But if I mail it, I straightaway find myself tormented with staircase wit in the shape of emendations.