Perspicacity
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Acute discernment or understanding; insight. uncountable, usually
""I understand," I said. "The fact is that you have the money." His face brightened. He seemed pleased at my perspicacity."
- 2 the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions wordnet
- 3 The human faculty or power to mentally grasp or understand clearly. uncountable, usually
"His very veneration for his father-in-law, combined as it is with a total want of the most ordinary perspicacity, is an additional disqualification."
- 4 intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings) wordnet
- 5 Keen eyesight. obsolete, uncountable, usually
"Attentive consideration of the phenomena of vision has led to the invention of artificial aids by which the sight may be wonderfully strengthened and preserved, and man endowed at once with the perspicacity of the eagle or the minute scrutiny of the insect."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples""I understand," I said. "The fact is that you have the money." His face brightened. He seemed pleased at my perspicacity."
Etymology
From From perspicac(ious) + -ity, from Middle French perspicacité, from Latin perspicācitās (“sharpsightedness, discrimination”), from perspicio, from per- + specio, "see through (something)".
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.