sapience

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“
But what is the best And as if seeking to regain the sapience, the balance and shrewd common sense of that old Forsyte, he sat down in the ancient chair and crossed his knees.

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Definitions (6)

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  1. The character of being sapient; wisdom; sageness; profound knowledge; also, practical wisdom; common prudence: often used ironically. [In early writers the meaning is influenced by the sixth book of Aristotle's “Nicomachæan Ethics,” where this word was used to translate σοφία, defined by Aristotle as the union of science, or demonstrative knowledge, with nous, or cognition of principles. Aristotle also applies it to the knowledge of a master of any art. But in scholastic writings it usually means knowledge of the most difficult subjects, metaphysics, theology, thus again translating σοφία]. That thou hatʒ in thy hert holy connyng Of sapyence thi sawle ful sothes to schawe. Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1626. Ther goth he That is the man of so grete sapience, And held us lovers leest in reverence. Chaucer, Troilus, i. 515. Sapience and love Immense, and all his Father in him shone. Milton, P. L., vii. 195. A thousand names are toss'd into the crowd, Some whisper'd softly, and some twang'd aloud, Just as the sapience of an author's brain Suggests it safe or dangerous to be plain. Cowper, Charity, l. 519.
  2. The reasonable soul; the intellective faculty; that which distinguishes men from brutes; reason. Ryght as a man has sapiences three, Memorie, engyn, and intellect also. Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, l. 33S. Many a wretch in Bedlam … Still has gratitude and sapience To spare the folks that give him ha′pence. Swift. (Johnson.)
  3. The sense of taste, or intelligence compared to taste. Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste, And elegant, of sapience no small part, Since to each meaning savour we apply, And palate call judicious. Milton, P. L., ix. 1018.
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Examples (50)

  • Now the brightly burning beacon of sapience isn't held by humans any more—their cross-infectious enthusiasms have spread to a myriad of other hosts, several of them qualitatively better at thinking. —  Asimov'sSF,Dec2003
  • And sapience is no guarantee of a better quality of life; many humans suffer from hunger, ill health, and homelessness. —  Biology in Science Fiction
  • But humans have not evolved a sufficient level of sapience -- the basis of wisdom -- to have good (minimally biased and morally motivated) judgments. —  Grist - the Latest from Grist
  • Lacking adequate sapience, the majority of human beings continue to fail to grasp their need to understand the real world as it actually works. —  Grist - the Latest from Grist
  • These are are all well-researched areas as well. said to possess qualities such as self - Cognitive psychology is associated with a awareness, sentience, sapience, and the school of thought known as cognitivism, ability to perceive the relationship between whose adherents argue for an information oneself and one's environment. —  Recently Uploaded Slideshows
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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 (1)

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  1. from Middle English sapience, from Old French (and F.) sapience= Provencal sapiensa = Spanish Portuguese sapiencia = Italian sapienza, from Latin sapientia, wisdom, from sapien(t-)s, wise, discerning: see sapient.
 

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