Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Quickness of perception; the faculty of nice discrimination; mental acuteness or penetration; keenness of insight.
  • noun In botany, a tapering point. Synonyms Penetration, discernment, acuteness, sharpness, perspicacity, insight.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun shrewdness shown by keen insight
  • noun a tapering point

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin acūmen ("sharp point").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Overused by my boss?

    May 26, 2008

  • Don't like. *bruxes*

    September 8, 2008

  • The inaugural entry on my "Words I dislike" list.

    December 11, 2009

  • business acumen

    September 8, 2010

  • She was a pretty blond vampire I'd met a couple of times before, a sensible sort of individual with considerable business acumen. -Charlaine Harris, Living Dead in Dallas

    December 11, 2010

  • Is Acumen the answer for a good GRE score?

    August 5, 2012