Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or character of being perspicacious.
  • noun Acuteness of discernment or understanding; penetration; sagacity: as, a man of great perspicacity.
  • noun Synonyms Sagacity, etc. (see judgment), insight.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of being perspicacious; acuteness of sight or of intelligence; acute discernment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Acute discernment or understanding; insight.
  • noun The human faculty or power to mentally grasp or understand clearly.
  • noun obsolete Keen eyesight.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions
  • noun intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See etymology under perspicacious.

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Examples

  • When you come out of it (takes just a couple of minutes) all the fire and brimstone and luminous perspicacity is gone.

    Under the Influence 2007

  • When you come out of it (takes just a couple of minutes) all the fire and brimstone and luminous perspicacity is gone.

    February 2007 2007

  • But here's a little fist bump for having the balls to use the word perspicacity as though you use it regularly.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2009

  • Not a sheep: Tony "perspicacity" Blair skip to main | skip to sidebar

    Tony "perspicacity" Blair Not a sheep 2008

  • Baker, with that supernatural perspicacity which is sometimes found in stupid mothers, saw that Agatha was refusing her usual partners.

    The Grey Lady Henry Seton Merriman 1882

  • This characteristic, aided by the perspicacity which is bestowed upon every jealous woman, perchance enabled her to read the mysterious Sibyl with some approach to exactness.

    The Whirlpool George Gissing 1880

  • I hated it when her paranoia turned to perspicacity—in other words, when she was right.

    The Dark Side of Innocence Terri Cheney 2011

  • I hated it when her paranoia turned to perspicacity—in other words, when she was right.

    The Dark Side of Innocence Terri Cheney 2011

  • Because the existence of the Tibetan nation-in-exile is fragile and complex, his perspicacity and firmness have been essential in introducing such far-reaching changes.

    Rio Helmi: From Exile, Showing the Way Forward Rio Helmi 2011

  • Indeed the poisonous partisanship of present politics present a pernicious paradigm of parsimony preventing perspicacity from penetrating the public piazza of … of …. oh, poo!

    Think Progress » Fox News VP: We ‘hope’ Palin will be ‘polarizing’ as a Fox News contributor. 2010

Comments

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  • "I pop with perspicacity."

    --Wilbur in the TV adaptation of Charlotte's Web (not the movie--the TV special with Paul Lynde voicing Templeton the rat)

    April 10, 2008

  • Heehee! Paul Lynde was perfect for that.

    April 10, 2008

  • Quickness of sight.

    April 20, 2011