sagacious
adjective
Did you know?
The Surprising Root of Sagacious
You might expect the root of sagacious to be sage, which, as an adjective, means "wise" or, as a noun, "a wise person." Despite similarities of spelling, sound, and sense, the two words are not closely related. Sagacious comes from sagire, a Latin verb meaning "to perceive keenly." Etymologists believe that sage comes from a different Latin verb, sapere, which means "to taste," "to have good taste," or "to be wise."
Did you know?
Hidden Meaning of Sagacious
Sagacious entered the English language around the beginning of the 17th century and, for some decades, referred to perceptiveness of sight, taste, and especially, smell. One of the first authors to use the word, Edward Topsell, wrote in 1607 of bees searching for something with “a most sagacious smelling-sence.” Sagacious has largely lost the sense (no pun intended) of being keen in sensory perception, and now almost exclusively means "of keen judgment, discerning.” The upshot is that English has words for the state of possessing acute vision (such as far-sighted) and a fine sense of touch (such as sensitive), but lacks any adjectives describing an excellent sense of smell.
Synonyms
- discerning
- insightful
- perceptive
- prudent
- sage
- sapient
- wise
Example Sentences
Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2000 It has allowed him to pre-empt conservative political attacks, to appear sagacious despite his inexperience … Alan Tonelson, Atlantic, June 1993 With commendably sagacious foresight, I sneaked spoils as well to the elders of key Judean cities whose good will I was cultivating for the future … Joseph Heller, God Knows, 1984 It has been suggested that we go to sleep at night because it is then too dark to do anything else; but owls, who are a venerably sagacious folk, do not sleep in the night-time. James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912 a sagacious critique of the current social climate in our nation Jack D. Grant, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 July 2022 Read previous columns here. Leave it to the sagacious Linus Van Pelt to strip away the trappings of the Thanksgiving holiday tradition and find its essence. Ben Zimmer, WSJ, 25 Nov. 2021 Nevertheless, this is the time of year when food writers — ordinarily a wise and sagacious bunch — write about cocktails that are frightening or scary or spooky. Tribune News Service, cleveland, 25 Oct. 2021 Clodagh’s fantasy is that Paola will be there for her, as before—still magnetic, still sagacious, still interested. Willing Davidson, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2020 Other big losers: LVMH chief Bernard Arnault ($4.4 billion); Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ($5.6 billion); and the sagacious Warren Buffett ($5.3 billion). David Meyer, Fortune, 10 Mar. 2020 The sagacious Lakers general manager happily traded Vlade Divac to Charlotte on that fateful draft night. Bob Ryan, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Jan. 2020 The running back unit ascends with the additions of sagacious veteran Frank Gore and multidimensional jitterbug Devin Singletary, a third-round pick from Florida Atlantic. Andy Benoit, SI.com, 7 Aug. 2019 That kind of puckish, mildly subversive humor runs throughout the book, which is a calm and sagacious volume rendered somewhat somber by the news of his passing. Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 July 2019 See More Word History
Latin sagac-, sagax, from sagire to perceive keenly; akin to Latin sagus prophetic — more at seek
1607, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Kids Definition
sagacious
adjective
sagacious
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- wise
- prudent
- insightful
- perceptive
- sage
- clever
- brilliant
- intelligent
- thoughtful
- discerning
- experienced
- perspicacious
- scholarly
- sapient
- smart
- keen
- astute
- shrewd
- knowledgeable
- erudite
- acute
- penetrating
- quick
- literate
- brainy
- percipient
- nimble
- reflective
- discriminating
- learned
- cerebral
- discriminative
- quick-witted
- bright
- sharp
- clearheaded
- contemplative
- piercing
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- unwise
- unperceptive
- purblind
- obtuse
- foolish
- dense
- dumb
- thoughtless
- stupid
- idiotic
- simple
- imbecile
- dull
- moronic
- silly
- unintelligent
- imbecilic
- witless
- slow
- feebleminded
- brainless
- undiscriminating
- knuckleheaded
- slow-witted
- woodenheaded
- idiotical
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of sagacious are astute, perspicacious, and shrewd. While all these words mean "acute in perception and sound in judgment," sagacious suggests wisdom, penetration, and farsightedness.
The synonyms astute and sagacious are sometimes interchangeable, but astute suggests shrewdness, perspicacity, and diplomatic skill.
The words perspicacious and sagacious can be used in similar contexts, but perspicacious implies unusual power to see through and understand what is puzzling or hidden.
While the synonyms shrewd and sagacious are close in meaning, shrewd stresses practical, hardheaded cleverness and judgment.