L'esprit d'escalier (n.) is the French expression for thinking of the perfect reply only after the moment has passed.
L'esprit d'escalier (n.) is wit that only shows up when the audience has left.
Raillery (n.) is the wit of a more impetuous temper; facetiousness betokens a more refined art.
Raillery (n.) won the Curius case, not law: Crassus carried the votes by marvelling at the genius of Scaevola, who had discovered that a man must be born before he can die.
Raillery (n.) is good-humored teasing or banter.
Raillery (n.) requires the target to laugh, and that laugh is the fee.
Repartee (n.) moves at the relative speeds of opinion — praised in tireless quick-witted youth, mirrored in weary old men talking alone inside their hollowed heads.
Repartee (n.) is turning the tables — paying the attacker back in his own coin, so that defence and attack become one.
Repartee (n.) is the highest order of wit, bespeaking the coolest yet quickest exercise of genius at a moment when the passions are roused.
Repartee (n.) is something we think of 24 hours too late.