Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having or showing penetrating mental discernment; clear-sighted. See Synonyms at shrewd.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Quick-sighted; sharp of sight.
- Of acute discernment.
- Synonyms Acute, shrewd, clear-sighted, sharp-witted. See astute.
Wiktionary
- adj. figuratively Of acute discernment; having keen insight; mentally perceptive.
- adj. obsolete Able to physically see clearly; quick-sighted; sharp-sighted.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the power of seeing clearly; quick-sighted; sharp of sight.
- adj. Fig.: Of acute discernment; keen.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. acutely insightful and wise
- adj. mentally acute or penetratingly discerning
Etymologies
- First attested 1548, from Late Latin perspicācitās ("discernment"), from Latin perspicax ("sharp-sighted"), from perspiciō ("look through"), from per- ("through") + speciō ("look at"). See also perspective. (Wiktionary)
- From Latin perspicāx, perspicāc-, from perspicere, to look through; see perspective. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Regardless of the fact that you don't know what the word perspicacious means, you continue to amaze me.”
“Martin also squeezes the word "perspicacious" into his first paragraph, and drops the dime "pleonastic" later on.”
“Anyone who proselytises on behalf of the enemy in a time of war can hardly be described as 'perspicacious' regardless of their race or religion (or lack thereof).”
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
“I ain't got much on them elocution skillz, but I gots it on the spellin' front: "perspicacious" ;”
“Apparently my perspective is 'perspicacious'. pftp wrote: I don't have heated rhetoric, nor am I necessarily denying AGW, I have a deep distrust of people from your side of the coin.”
“David Colander is always very pungent and perspicacious in his observations about economic grad education.”
“It surely has not escaped the attention of a person as perspicacious as yourself that many prominent historians have a leftist agenda, just as a righteous few have a rightist agenda.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Taking the Washington Post to School
“They come from a perspicacious trio, three winemakers who prioritize site selection.”
Cautiously Raising a Glass to Single-Vineyard Finger Lakes Wines
“And it was Jacob and the perspicacious Bernie Goodman who suggested the idea for The Secret History Of Science Fiction; the book is due out next month.”
MIND MELD: Behind the Scenes...How the Hottest Short Fiction Anthologies Are Created (Part 2)
“Weinstein introduced Ackman as a perspicacious investor, which he is, generally.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘perspicacious’.
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Muse's tacet ,to learn
Music brings silence's to raging thoughts and temperament , calm, as it is our object of definite purpose.
tacet, cadence, tempo, treble clef, penultimate, lexicon, origin, orchestra, kantele, magus, eros, coalesce and 248 more...
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pabouche, pabulous, pabulum, pacable, pace, pachydermia, pachyglossal, pachymeter, pachynsis, paciferous, pacificate, pactolian and 1766 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 185 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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My first list
exposition, anecdote, perspicacious, polemic, imbroglio, irascible, vicissitude, venality, payola, amatory, caliginous, avuncular and 5 more...
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Pesky
Pesky pronunciations
perspicacious, carminative, eleemosynary, katzenjammer, cognomen, xanthin, weltanschauung, wahrheitssensible..., entropic doom, dietrologia, lontanaza, überrNoch and 22 more...
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SAT 2
platitude, parsimonious, perspicacious, catharsis, captious, munificent, penurious, arid, portentous, ossified, nascent, perfidy and 13 more...
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Bad court
flagrant, polemic, hyperbole, flagitious, conflagrate, captious, perspicacious
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Filter 1
Hard words level 1
besotted, altricial, consecrate, consternate, desuetude, detractor, dissolute, divisive, emaciated, enamored, ensconce, garishly and 76 more...
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To Be or Not To Be
Words to live by (or not)
prescient, polyglot, fatuous, phlegmatic, mendacious, pithy, philistine, perspicacious, epicure, ebullient, probity, profligate and 9 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for perspicacious.

skorpiontail I had to sound out PERSPICACIOUS like 6 times before i gave up & looked it up. Because neither my grandma or i knew how to pronounce it, nor did we know what it meant. But it certainly did look like an interesting word & downright HARD to pronounce if you dont know it already-PERSPICACIOUS!!! Pretty Cool!!! I LUV THIS WORD! Its in my favs now!! Nov 27, 2012
mcgelligot Do perspicacious and perspiration have the same root? Nov 14, 2008
palooka Such a beautiful word - in all its forms! Oct 21, 2007
chained_bear "I pop with perspicacity..." --Wilbur, "Charlotte's Web" Oct 21, 2007
kafkaesque The Simpsons (episode 2F19)
Lisa: Relax? I can't relax! Nor can I yield, relent, or -- Only two synonyms? Oh my God: I'm losing my perspicacity!
Homer: Well, it's always in the last place you look. Jan 20, 2007