Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness. synonym: shrewd.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Keenly perceptive; discerning, as by some exceptionally developed or extraordinary natural power; especially, keen of scent: with of.
- Exhibiting or marked by keen intellectual discernment, especially of human motives and actions; having or proceeding from penetration into practical affairs in general; having keen practical sense; acute in discernment or penetration; discerning and judicious; shrewd: as, a sagacious mind.
- Intelligent; endowed with sagacity.
- Synonyms and Sage, Knowing, etc. (see
astute ); perspicacious, clear-sighted, long-headed, sharp-witted, intelligent, well-judged, sensible.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of quick sense perceptions; keen-scented; skilled in following a trail.
- adjective Hence, of quick intellectual perceptions; of keen penetration and judgment; discerning and judicious; knowing; far-sighted; shrewd; sage; wise.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having or showing
keen discernment ,sound judgment , andfarsightedness .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective skillful in statecraft or management
- adjective acutely insightful and wise
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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All the more perhaps for that, she was born sagacious, which is
Erema Richard Doddridge 2004
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Wise business management, and more particularly what is spoken of as safe and sane business management, therefore, reduces itself in the main to a sagacious use of sabotage; that is to say a sagacious limitation of productive processes to something less than the productive capacity of the means in hand.
An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Peace And The Terms Of Its Perpetuation Thorstein Veblen 1893
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He was a man of large wealth, and well known as a sagacious financier.
Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians John Hill 1884
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All the more perhaps for that, she was born sagacious, which is a less pleasing, but, in a bitter pinch, a more really useful, quality.
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Forty years after Benjamin worked in Palmer's printing-office, he visited England in the service of his country, widely known as a sagacious statesman and profound philosopher.
The Printer Boy. Or How Benjamin Franklin Made His Mark. An Example for Youth. 1859
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At least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder.
History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce — Complete (1584-1609) John Lothrop Motley 1845
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At least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder.
History of the United Netherlands, 1597-98 John Lothrop Motley 1845
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At least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder.
PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete John Lothrop Motley 1845
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At least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder.
History of the United Netherlands, 1590-99 — Complete John Lothrop Motley 1845
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Certain it is that the maid's speech communicated a suspicion to the mind of Amelia which the behaviour of the serjeant did not tend to remove: what that is, the sagacious readers may likewise probably suggest to themselves; if not, they must wait our time for disclosing it.
Amelia — Complete Henry Fielding 1730
sera commented on the word sagacious
sagacious : perspicacious
August 29, 2007
oroboros commented on the word sagacious
Here's a fun little anecdote I found on MyFavoriteWord.com, by Sheila Confer:
"I was an outstanding speller in my youth. In seventh grade I won the school wide spelling test and got to go all the way to Pittsburgh, PA for a regional final. Out of 700 (probably more like 30) children, I survived until the final three. My word? Sagacious: Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness. I spelled it "s-E-g-a-c-i-o-u-s."
It is my favorite word for two reasons. One, I will never forget how to spell it, and two, the winner of the contest had to spell tulle: A fine, often starched net of silk, rayon, or nylon, used especially for veils, tutus, or gowns. I would have surely spelled it t-o-o-l and been embarrassed for life. It was therefore very sagacious of me to misspell sagacious...right?"
September 30, 2007
marky commented on the word sagacious
Nice wordie but your mishap was not sagacious but innocuous. Could you have spelled that? :)
December 23, 2008
bilby commented on the word sagacious
"The sagacious reader will not from this simile imagine these poor people had any apprehension of the design with which Mrs. Wilkins was now coming towards them; but as the great beauty of the simile may possibly sleep these hundred years, till some future commentator shall take this work in hand, I think proper to lend the reader a little assistance in this place."
- Henry Fielding, 'The History of Tom Jones'.
September 8, 2009
TrueObsession14 commented on the word sagacious
Relates to the noun sage.
July 24, 2015