perspicacity

per·spi·cac·i·ty

(pûr′spĭ-kăs′ĭ-tē)

Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun	1.	perspicacity - intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings) astuteness, perspicaciousness, shrewdness business enterprise, commercial enterprise, business - the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects; "computers are now widely used in business" intelligence - the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wiliness, craft - shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception insightfulness, acumen - shrewdness shown by keen insight knowingness - shrewdness demonstrated by knowledge street smarts - a shrewd ability to survive in a dangerous urban environment
	2.	perspicacity - the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions sound judgement, sound judgment, judgement, judgment trait - a distinguishing feature of your personal nature objectiveness, objectivity - judgment based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices subjectiveness, subjectivity - judgment based on individual personal impressions and feelings and opinions rather than external facts

perspicacity

noun (Formal) insight, discrimination, penetration, acumen, smarts (slang, chiefly U.S.), wit, sharpness, suss (slang), keenness, shrewdness, discernment, sagacity, acuteness, perceptiveness, percipience, perspicuity, perspicaciousness, sagaciousness his extraordinary political perspicacity

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

perspicacity

noun

Skill in perceiving, discriminating, or judging:

acumen, astuteness, clear-sightedness, discernment, discrimination, eye, keenness, nose, penetration, perceptiveness, percipience, percipiency, sagacity, sageness, shrewdness, wit.

Translations

perspicacité

perspicacia

perspicacity

[ˌpɜːspɪˈkæsɪtɪ] N (frm) → perspicacia f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

perspicacity

[ˌpɜː^rspɪˈkæsɪti] n → perspicacité f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

perspicacity

n → Scharfsinn m, → Scharfblick m; (of decision) → Weitsicht f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

perspicacity

[ˌpɜːspɪˈkæsɪtɪ] n (frm) → perspicacia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

The surgeon spoke with the fluency due to long practice and with the admirable perspicacity which distinguished him.

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He seemed pleased at my perspicacity. "But it is avoiding the real question," I continued, "which is one of right."

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It was a marvellous effort of perspicacity to discover that I did not love her.

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"Sire," said Villefort, "the suddenness of this event must prove to your majesty that the issue is in the hands of Providence; what your majesty is pleased to attribute to me as profound perspicacity is simply owing to chance, and I have profited by that chance, like a good and devoted servant -- that's all.

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For these sorts of details, unless in very serious circumstances, he confided in his perspicacity, which was so seldom at fault, in his experience of thirty years, and in a great habit of reading the physiognomies of houses, as well as those of men.

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He winced a little at her terrifying perspicacity, and longed to ask: "And May--do they quote her?" But he judged it safer to turn the question.

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"I perceive that your royal highness has studied my notes to great advantage; your amazing perspicacity overpowers me with delight."

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The entire world hung for months over this obscure problem --the most obscure, it seems to me, that has ever challenged the perspicacity of our police or taxed the conscience of our judges.

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These imbecilities gave me time to form my own conclusions at a glance, and, with a perspicacity rare at that age, to analyze the husband and wife whose solitude was about to be so rudely disturbed.

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I had been accustomed to nurse a flattering idea that my strong attachment to her proved some particular perspicacity in my nature; she was not handsome, she was not rich, she was not even accomplished, yet was she my life's treasure; I must then be a man of peculiar discernment.

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Tulliver, rather sharply,--his perspicacity or his fatherly fondness for Maggie making him suspect that the lad had been hard upon "the little un," else she would never have left his side.

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The host, who was not endowed with great perspicacity, did not observe the expression which his words had given to the physiognomy of the stranger.