How do you use the word "gist" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "gist" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "gist": I got the gist of what he was saying. Advanced learners of a language would usually get the gist but not the quirks.

Gist Meaning

/d͡ʒɪst/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

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

nounThe essential ground for action in a lawsuit, without which there is no cause of action; the gravamen.

Sentence Examples

I got the gist of what he was saying.

Advanced learners of a language would usually get the gist but not the quirks.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

sum meat heart

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The ____ of the story was that honesty is the best policy.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

I didn't understand every single detail of the lecture, but I think I got the ____ of the main argument.

Word Origin & History

The noun is derived from Old French gist, a noun use of the third person singular indicative of gesir (“to lie down”) (modern French gésir; compare Anglo-Norman (cest) action gist (literally “(law) (this) action lies”)), from Latin iacēre, the present active infinitive of iaceō (“to lie down, lie prostrate, recline”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”) (probably in the sense of something being thrown down). The verb is derived from the noun. The programming sense is a genericized trademark of GitHub Gist, introduced 2008.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Should they live and build their church in the American wilderness, their worst dangers would rise in and among themselves rather than outside. That was the gist of the lesson from their pastor and "wellwiller" John Robinson." — 1948, Carl Sandburg, “Store We Up therefore Patience”, in Remembrance Rock, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace & World, →OCLC, part 2, page 103:

"He was handing her something in an envelope, and she was saying “Oh, Jeeves, you've saved a human life,” and he was saying “Not at all, miss.” The gist, of course, escaped me, but I had no leisure to probe into gists." — 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

"The gists of the reports, however, their logic, their structural coherence, are molded by a concern to reconstruct the past, by antiquarian interest." — 1988, Baruch Halpern, “Sisera and Old Lace: The Case of Deborah and Yael”, in The First Historians: The Hebrew Bible and History, San Francisco, Calif.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, part 1 (Romance and Historiography: Two Cases of Historiography in Microcosm), page 97:

"And the work was going very well. I was really just vomiting images like spoiled sushi (that may be an ill-considered metaphor, but you get my gist)." — 1994 July 15 (first performance), Nicky Silver, “The Food Chain”, in Etiquette and Vitriol, The Food Chain and Other Plays, New York, N.Y.: Theatre Communications Group, published November 1996, →ISBN, scene i (Amanda), page 10:

"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." — 2003, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter V, in David McDuff, transl., Crime and Punishment, revised edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, part 2, page 183:

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