acumen

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
The soundest political acumen, the most unerring tact, was exacted of him.

View all »
Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight.
  2. usage note
    The pronunciation (ə-kyo͞oˈmən), with stress on the second syllable, is an older, traditional pronunciation reflecting the word's Latin origin. In recent years it has been supplanted as the most common pronunciation of the word by an Anglicized variant with stress on the first syllable, (ăkˈyə-mən). In a recent survey, 68 percent of the Usage Panel chose this as their pronunciation, while 29 percent preferred the pronunciation with stress on the second syllable. The remaining 3 percent of the Panelists said they use both pronunciations.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

 

Tags

acumen hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 392 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin acūmen, from acuere, to sharpen, from acus, needle; see ak- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin, a point, sting, fig. acuteness, from acuere, sharpen: see acute.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/əˈkjumɛn/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a month.

Recently looked up

tesseract · turnbuckle · elector · fraught · hornet

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket