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perspicacious

pers·pi·ca·cious

UK/ˌpɜː.spɪˈkeɪ.ʃəs/ US/ˌpɜːɹ.spɪˈkeɪ.ʃəs/ uncommon obsolete

adjective

1.

acutely insightful and wise

  • “much too perspicacious to be taken in by such a spurious argument”
  • “observant and thoughtful, he was given to asking sagacious questions”
  • “a source of valuable insights and sapient advice to educators”
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2.

mentally acute or penetratingly discerning

  • “too clear-eyed not to see what problems would follow”
  • “chaos could be prevented only by clear-sighted leadership”
  • “much too perspicacious to be taken in by so spurious an argument”
Synonyms
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Origin

First attested 1548, from Late Latin perspicācitās (“discernment”), from Latin perspicax (“sharp-sighted”), from perspiciō (“look through”), from per- (“through”) + speciō (“look at”). See also perspective.

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Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.