| sagacity | The quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment or penetration with soundness of judgment; shrewdness. "Some [brutes] show that nice sagacity of smell." (Cowper) "Natural sagacity improved by generous education." (V. Knox) Synonym: Penetration, shrewdness, judiciousness. Sagacity, Penetration. Penetration enables us to enter into the depths of an abstruse subject, to detect motives, plans, etc. Sagacity adds to penetration a keen, practical judgment, which enables one to guard against the designs of others, and to turn everything to the best possible advantage. Origin: L. Sagacitas. See Sagacious. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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