Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Word of the Day: Perspicacity

Perspicacity

\Per`spi*cac"i*ty\, n. [L. perspicacitas: cf. F. perspicacit['e].

Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.


or,

The state of being perspicacious; acuteness of sight or of intelligence; acute discernment. --Sir T. Browne.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


and also,

1: intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings) [syn: shrewdness, astuteness, perspicaciousness]

2: the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions [syn: judgment, judgement, sound judgment, sound judgement]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University


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