Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The quality of being discerning, sound in judgment, and farsighted; wisdom.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state or character of being sagacious, in any sense; sagaciousness.
- n. Synonyms Perspicacity, etc. (see judgment), insight, motherwit. See astute and discernment.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment or penetration with soundness of judgment; shrewdness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations
- n. the trait of forming opinions by distinguishing and evaluating
Etymologies
- From French sagacité, from Latin sagacitas ("sagaciousness"), from sagax ("of quick perception, acute, sagacious"), from sagire ("to perceive by the senses"). (Wiktionary)
- French sagacité, from Old French sagacite, from Latin sagācitās, quickness of perception, from sagāx, sagāc-, of keen perception; see sagacious. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Is it not singular that these animals, not usually wanting in sagacity or courage, should when threatened by fire so quietly submit to their fate without making a single effort to escape?”
“There are few better guides for a young man than this book of homely sagacity, which is wisdom about the world without being tainted by the bad sort of worldly wisdom.”
“Is it my defect of spiritual experience, that while that weight of sagacity, which is the iron to the dart of genius, is needful to satisfy me, the undertone of another and a deeper knowledge does not please, does not command me?”
“Carthaginians called sagacity, and the Romans treachery and cunning, determined not to see these messengers.”
“Pinchot's funny accent work is quite unexpectedly perfect for the Dupin stories, featuring as they do the semi-hysterical Prefect of the Paris police, "G____," who is wont to burst into peals of lunatic laughter whenever Dupin calls his sagacity into question.”
“He spoke with a rare sagacity, which is a remarkable gift in a nation who exhibit more intellect in their conduct than in their conversation.”
“Not that good sense alone will be sufficient j for that conbiderable part of it, emending a comipt text, there must be a certain sagacity, which is siO dis - tinguishing a quality in Dr. Bentley.”
“For that consider - able part of it, emending a corrupt text, there must be a certain sagacity, which is so distinguishing a quality in Dr. Bentley.”
“It wouldn't be right to say that my relationship with George has revealed to me the "sagacity" of animals.”
“I have here certain letters from Paris on which I would consult your young sagacity which is accredited to us by the most loyal Doa Rita. '”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sagacity’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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Words related to knowledge
Words that relate to learning, knowing, being enlightened...
revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 467 more...
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 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 2046 more...
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Words to use more often
incommensurable, squalid, sordid, abscond, deranged, sagacity, enthralling, noctivagant, imperturbable, slither, sycophantic, ineffable and 2 more...
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EN-HU - fun and challenge to translate
Highly descriptive coinages (either in EN or HU) which are difficult to translate between the two languages. If - as a simultaneous interpreter - you get them right on the move, you deserve to be p...
backpfeifengesicht, a wise head on yo..., bad hair day, big cheese, blame shift, cherry picking, intellectual heav..., lack nunchi, schlimazl, cash cow, cherry boy, ass munch and 65 more...
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words to remember
loquacious, decorous, bombastic, impetuous, pedantic, cantankerous, abscond, sagacity, chiaroscuro, histrionic, mincing, maverick
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A Refined Lexicon
ambivalence, ambivalent, equivocal, equivocation, equivocate, prevaricate, prevarication, quietude, quiescent, quiescence, vanquish, pluviosity and 137 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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Sense and Sensibility
Words from the book by Jane Austen.
shew, shewn, shewing, shewed, dupe, wither, rambled, extorting, cavil, rap, mildness, controuled and 133 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sagacity.
gulyasrobi HU for "sagacity" = itelokepesseg Sep 12, 2012
fbharjo lisa bono, I presume (see visuals) Aug 6, 2011
vanishedone I never fully understood my relations. Dec 20, 2008
sillygoose Uses: sagacious; sagaciousness Sep 6, 2008
quotato Gates’ lack of news or sagacity was doubly troubling for the elaborate protocol required to get in, including making people sit in the auditorium 90 minutes ahead of the speech – without so much as wireless connectivity so they could make use of the time Jan 9, 2007