sagacity en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /səˈɡæ.sɪ.ti/
- /səˈɡæ.sə.ti/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From French sagacité, from Latin sagācitās (“sagaciousness”), from sagāx (“of quick perception, acute, sagacious”) (whence -acity), from sāgiō (“to perceive by the senses”). Equivalent to sagac(ious) + -ity.
Meanings
-
(uncountable, usually) The quality of being sage, wise, or able to make good decisions; the quality of being perceptive, astute or insightful.
Young ladies have great penetration in such matters as these; but I think I may defy even your sagacity, to discover the name of your admirer.
1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 15, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:Immediately after the meal, when he was alone again, he set to work to examine Drayton’s papers, of which there lay quite a mass on the table near him and, leaning toward the lamp on his elbow, he weighed the meaning of each with a certain sideward sagacity of gaze, a sagacity that smiled in its self-sureness. Swiss Family Robinson- "....near the mouth of a creek, towards which all our geese and ducks betook themselves; and I, relying on their sagacity, followed in the same course."
1904, M. P. Shiel, The Evil That Men Do, London: Ward, Lock & Co., Chapter:See Thesaurus:wisdom
-
(obsolete, uncountable, usually) Keen sense of smell.
[…] this Beast [the Ichneumon] is not only enemy to the Crocodile and Asp, but also to their Egs, which she hunteth out by the sagacity of her nose, and so destroyeth them […]
1607, Edward Topsell, The History of Four-footed Beasts, Serpents, and Insects, London: G. Sawbridge et al., published 1658, page 352:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| sagacities | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
wisdom · sagaciousness · wisdom
Translations (31)
cs moudrost (quality of being sage) · bg мъдрост (quality of being sage) · ml വിവേകം (quality of being sage) · af wysheid (quality of being sage) · pl roztropność (quality of being sage) · ru прозорли́вость (quality of being sage) · nl wijsheid (quality of being sage) · uk мудрість (quality of being sage) · bg прозорливост (quality of being sage) · uk кмітливість (quality of being sage) · es sagacidad (quality of being sage) · fi tarkkanäköisyys (quality of being sage) · el αγχίνοια (quality of being sage) · hy խորաթափանցություն (quality of being sage) · hu bölcsesség (quality of being sage) · ga seanchríonnacht (quality of being sage) · sh oštroúmnōst (quality of being sage) · bg съобразителност (quality of being sage) · eo sagaceco (quality of being sage) · ru смека́лка (quality of being sage) · uk проникливість (quality of being sage) · ru расторо́пность (quality of being sage) · pt sagacidade (quality of being sage) · pl mądrość (quality of being sage) · fi viisaus (quality of being sage) · de Weisheit (quality of being sage) · hy խելամտություն (quality of being sage) · sh оштроу́мно̄ст (quality of being sage) · ca sagacitat (quality of being sage) · ru сообрази́тельность (quality of being sage) · ru му́дрость (quality of being sage)