wisdomwis‧dom /ˈwɪzdəm/ ●●○ noun [uncountable] 
a man of great wisdomquestion/doubt the wisdom of (doing) something Local people are questioning the wisdom of spending so much money on a new road. You can always expect a few words of wisdom from Dave. → pearls of wisdom at pearl(3)2knowledge gained over a long period of time through learning or experience: the collected wisdom of many centuries► see thesaurus at knowledge3(the) conventional/received/traditional etc wisdom a belief or opinion that most people have: The conventional wisdom is that boys mature more slowly than girls.4in somebody’s (infinite) wisdom humorous used to say that you do not understand why someone has decided to do something: The boss, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to reorganize the whole office yet again.
WORD ORIGINwisdom
Origin:
Old English wis; ➔ WISE1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- an old man's wisdom
- Conventional wisdom says that the health of the economy is one of the most important factors that determines a president's chances of winning re-election.
- Paul learned to value his father's wisdom and advice.
- Some people were beginning to doubt the wisdom of their leader's decisions.
- Already, they said, he had the wisdom of an old man, a sage.
- Beyond the threat there is wisdom.
- Both passed wisdom down with complex language.
- Gleysteen sensed that Park was losing his way, seeming to be uncertain about the wisdom of his own decisions.
- He set out a scenario which ran against the conventional wisdom at the time.
- Thanks to a sound system that fails to function properly, Kevin's words of diseased warning and wisdom are indecipherable.
- The wisdom about life, and about the dangers which her desires may bring about, is gained by every listener.
- Their new role is to challenge conventional wisdom.
THESAURUS
the facts and information that you have learned, and the understanding you have gained: · Our knowledge of other cultures and societies has improved.· scientific knowledge
special knowledge about how to do something, that you get through experience, training, or study: · The technical expertise was provided by a Japanese company.· They need people with medical expertise.
practical knowledge about how to do something: · Business leaders often lack the local know-how to tackle problems in specific countries.· financial know-how
good sense and judgment, based on knowledge and experience: · the wisdom of the older family members· It’s a matter of common wisdom that newspapers cannot be trusted.
how much you know about a situation or subject, and how well you understand it: · He’s been praised for his grasp of the country’s economic problems.· She has a good grasp of the language.
Longman Language Activatorthe ability to learn well the ability to learn quickly, think clearly, and understand ideas well: · A child's intelligence develops rapidly between the ages of four and five.· Intelligence cannot be measured just by exam results.· In order to be a pilot you need to be of above average intelligence.· The department bases its selection process on a series of intelligence tests.
the ability to think quickly and well, remember a lot of facts, and be good at studying: somebody's brains: · He has his mother's brains and his father's good looks.· With your brains, you should easily get into college.have the brains (to do something): · Chloe had always been the one with the brains to really make something of herself.
a very high level of intelligence and ability: · Eddie's brilliance brought him top marks in the Harvard entrance exam.· His reputation was founded on his organizational abilities and his acknowledged brilliance as a leader of men.
the ability to think about and understand and express complicated ideas: · Our physical strength declines with age, but not necessarily our intellect.the intellect: · Joyce's books seem designed to appeal to the intellect rather than the emotions.a great/formidable etc intellect: · Rehnquist was a great scholar who possessed a formidable intellect.
an extremely high level of intelligence, ability, and skill which only a few people have: · Could a computer ever achieve the genius of men like Newton and Einstein.· Maurice was always entertaining, but there was a touch of genius in the way he talked that night.have a genius for (doing) something: · Sandra will deal with it. That woman has a genius for organization.
knowledge and good judgement based on experience of life: · Paul learned to value his father's wisdom and advice.the wisdom of something: · Some people were beginning to doubt the wisdom of their leader's decisions.conventional wisdom (=what is usually considered to be true and right): · Conventional wisdom says that the health of the economy is one of the most important factors that determines a president's chances of winning re-election.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Local people are questioning the wisdom of spending so much money on a new road. You can always expect a few words of wisdom from Dave.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to criticize.
Local people are questioning the wisdom of spending so much money on a new road. You can always expect a few words of wisdom from Dave. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to criticize. (=the opinion most people have) The received wisdom is that he will retire within the next year.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE The received wisdom is that he will retire within the next year.· According to the ancient wisdom, spiritual growth involves transcending the limited and short-sighted Ego to make way for the Self.· Sport can teach us the ancient wisdom that by losing our lives we gain them.· Water is one of the four primal elements of ancient wisdom, along with earth, air and fire.· Taught by Fenna's crafty and ancient wisdom she had learned well the deft turns of deceit.· Our ancient wisdom is stirred to speech.
· Union consciousness and the activists Conventional wisdom attributes women's low participation in union affairs largely to domestic responsibilities.· This pre-eminently is an occasion when we would expect the conventional wisdom to lose touch with the reality.· This is probably correct, but conventional medical wisdom need not be accepted entirely at face value.· These attitudes have persisted in the conventional wisdom.· Having said that and confirmed the conventional wisdom, however, Butler and Stokes went further.· But conventional wisdom does not always prevail in politics.· The conventional wisdom on energy policy is that it is better not to have one.· But Cotton says conventional wisdom is wrong.
· Maxims, proverbs, and other forms of folk wisdom give a person reasons for obeying rules.· Like most folk wisdom it is true, I think.· Some of the new findings, though, support previously unsubstantiated folk wisdom about alcohol and caffeine.
· There is great wisdom in knowing when one is wrong.· I commend all four to those who have not yet read them; all contain great wisdom.· She was very practical, and a woman of great wit and wisdom.· Because Tom Heinzen listened, we have a book of great beauty and wisdom.· He offered the world his great wisdom.· A little learning is a dangerous thing - but great wisdom comes with much learning.
· What will the infinite wisdom of the universe do with itself as it rushes towards that point?
· But in the last resort, political decisions rest upon judgement, or political wisdom, and upon interests.· Like much political folk wisdom, this particular belief is of recent origin.· The conventional political wisdom is that you hear from the losers, not the gainers.
· This is what received wisdom says.· I am, in this regard, simply challenging received wisdom as to which is the chicken and which the egg.· They became part of received wisdom, and to some extent, they remain so.· The received military wisdom on prisoners was that time was on the captor's side.· His entire performance is magnificently unsettling and is no sense the Liszt Sonata of received wisdom.· There may be, too, a sottovoce challenge to the received wisdom that it is people who cause desertification.· Evidence is mounting against the received wisdom that interfering with a person's cholesterol intake can reliably alter his or her destiny.· A consequence of breaking new ground is that received wisdom becomes a poor guide.
· We repudiated entirely customary morals, conventions and traditional wisdom.· This follows the traditional wisdom that a menu of about 4 to 13 items is most manageable by people.· Whatever may be said about Ecclesiastes - and many things have been said about him - he decried traditional wisdom.· In the automobile industry, then, current methods contradict traditional wisdom.
NOUN· And you don't get your wisdom teeth until you're eighteen, at least.· From the way Hanson set his elbows it looked as if it might be a wisdom tooth coming in.· And carrots which looked like impacted wisdom teeth crossed with a fantasy of Edgar Allan Poe's.· Of course, it was more than wisdom teeth they were going to be forced to cover.· The opportunity soon came in the form of James's impacted wisdom teeth.
VERB· The accepted wisdom has been that the developing world's debt crisis has been solved.· Nothing is more completely accepted in the conventional wisdom than the cliche that economic life is endlessly and inherently uncertain.· But not everyone accepts the wisdom of privatisation, even in the government.· In short, for every argument there was a counter argument, or a later discovery overturned the accepted wisdom.· At the Arts Council, he accepted government wisdom about the need for alternatives to public funding.· Sandy repeated the accepted wisdom that an investigation target accomplishes nothing by pre-trial statements except to prepare the prosecutor for the defense.· They have also been unwilling to accept the wisdom that women offer.· In other words, both maintenance learning and shock learning are less learning than they are accepting conventional wisdom.
· Their new role is to challenge conventional wisdom.· The authors could have challenged the wisdom of that kind of structure and style in the first place-but they did not.· Galbraith challenged the conventional wisdom that everything would be all right if only the Gross National Product were big enough.· There may be, too, a sottovoce challenge to the received wisdom that it is people who cause desertification.· Others love to argue and challenge incessantly the established wisdom of television, the press and the older generation.
· It was as if the mere presence of the prize made each man doubt his own wisdom.
· They impart wisdom, morals, history.· Blue Nails imparts her worldly wisdom, trying to impress Felt Hat with her depth and spirituality.
· But the prevailing wisdom in the industry is that the market is doubling each year as the Internet continues its explosive growth.· The prevailing wisdom was that mortgages were not for Wall Street.· The prevailing wisdom is that tight labor markets and higher wages finally will start driving up prices.
· The reader might question the wisdom of leaving oil prices to be determined by purely market forces.· At least one money manager who focuses on emerging markets questions the wisdom of that approach.· Some teachers have questioned the wisdom of supplying tape machines at all for the computer.· In fact, it terrified him, and it made him question the wisdom of getting involved with Gabby.· They question conventional wisdom, they ask awkward questions, they do not speak the jargon.· And he even questioned the wisdom of having such a thing as a World Cup.
· And as Mr Blunkett has found, academic findings often run counter to received wisdom.· Among the many Irving assertions to be demolished was the suggestion that thought police prevent open challenge to received historical wisdom.· But A People's Tragedy sets out to do more than posit revisionist challenges to received wisdom.
· But the seminar could never do the whole of what a novel does, since theory falsifies where stories teach wisdom.· Sport can teach us the ancient wisdom that by losing our lives we gain them.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1good sense and judgment, based especially on your experience of life: - Clear-thinking organizations rely on cost justification to reveal these truths, even if they run counter to current plans and conventional wisdom.
- Evidence introduced to bolster orthodoxy in one field frequently carried unforeseen implications for conventional wisdom in another.
- He set out a scenario which ran against the conventional wisdom at the time.
- Nothing is more completely accepted in the conventional wisdom than the cliche that economic life is endlessly and inherently uncertain.
- That is all as it should be: but there are some dangers in conventional wisdom.
- This pre-eminently is an occasion when we would expect the conventional wisdom to lose touch with the reality.
- Under the stress of circumstance, the conventional wisdom is rejected.
- We repudiated entirely customary morals, conventions and traditional wisdom.
- The board, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to give Waters back his job.
- King, in his finite wisdom, figured out that three fights would make more money than one.
- My daughter, the poet, says Sofia was the goddess in charge of wisdom long ago.
- Nothing is more completely accepted in the conventional wisdom than the cliche that economic life is endlessly and inherently uncertain.
- The Government had in its wisdom decided on the former - hence the Black and Tans.
- The Guardian, in its wisdom, plucks out of the blue a figure of £200 million.
- There will be many a swing in both conventional wisdom and political fortunes between now and November.
- These attitudes have persisted in the conventional wisdom.
- Conventional wisdom says that gang members must be reached early to change.
- All that, at least, is the conventional wisdom.
- Around here, the conventional wisdom is that the number and volume of charges are more politically important than subsequent facts.
- As usual, conventional wisdom may not be wholly right.
- But the conventional wisdom might be wrong.
- He set out a scenario which ran against the conventional wisdom at the time.
- Keynes, as we shall see presently, was on his way to being the new fountainhead of conventional wisdom.
- The conventional wisdom of the late 1970s blamed Britain's high unemployment on the trade unions, which priced workers out of jobs.
- They had broken decisively with the conventional wisdom of the traditionalist and mercantilist society.
- It was a part of folk wisdom that providing houseroom for a widowed parent could lead to intense family friction.
- Like most folk wisdom it is true, I think.
- Like much political folk wisdom, this particular belief is of recent origin.
- Maxims, proverbs, and other forms of folk wisdom give a person reasons for obeying rules.
- Some of the new findings, though, support previously unsubstantiated folk wisdom about alcohol and caffeine.
- The folk wisdom led Tory politicians to dismiss opinion poll findings suggesting the opposite.
- Voters' trade-off between taxes and services has changed since 1979 - and anyway the folk wisdom was always misleading.
- But these pronouncements should not be taken as the fount of all wisdom.
- Cassie Willmott, the fount of all knowledge.
- Knowledge Adventure is very good at throwing out nuggets of information, and placing them into some sort of context.
- The room grew silent as we all digested this nugget of wisdom.
- Do you have any other pearls of wisdom for us?
- This meant he would occasionally cast in my direction the pearls of wisdom he had accumulated in nine months on the job.
a man of great wisdomquestion/doubt the wisdom of (doing) something Local people are questioning the wisdom of spending so much money on a new road. You can always expect a few words of wisdom from Dave. → pearls of wisdom at pearl(3)2knowledge gained over a long period of time through learning or experience: the collected wisdom of many centuries► see thesaurus at knowledge3(the) conventional/received/traditional etc wisdom a belief or opinion that most people have: The conventional wisdom is that boys mature more slowly than girls.4in somebody’s (infinite) wisdom humorous used to say that you do not understand why someone has decided to do something: The boss, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to reorganize the whole office yet again.