sagacious

sa·ga·cious

adjective \sə-ˈgā-shəs, si-\

Definition of SAGACIOUS

1

obsolete : keen in sense perception

2

a : of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment : discerning <sagacious judge of character>

b : caused by or indicating acute discernment <sagacious purchase of stock>

— sa·ga·cious·ly adverb

— sa·ga·cious·ness noun

Examples of SAGACIOUS

1. <a sagacious critique of the current social climate in our nation>
2. … the winner is praised for his sagacious grasp of the hopes and anxieties of the public, the loser is excoriated for the many and obvious blunders that derailed his candidacy … —Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2000
3. It has allowed him to pre-empt conservative political attacks, to appear sagacious despite his inexperience… —Alan Tonelson, Atlantic, June 1993
4. 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
5. 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

Origin of SAGACIOUS

Latin sagac-, sagax, from sagire to perceive keenly; akin to Latin sagus prophetic — more at seek

First Known Use: 1607

Related to SAGACIOUS

Synonyms

discerning, insightful, perceptive, prudent, wise, sage, sapient

Antonyms

unperceptive, unwise

Related Words

acute, penetrating, percipient, perspicacious; experienced; discriminating, discriminative; brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, intelligent, keen, nimble, quick, quick-witted, smart; cerebral, erudite, knowledgeable, learned, literate, scholarly; astute, clearheaded, piercing, sharp, shrewd; contemplative, reflective, thoughtful

Near Antonyms

dense, dull, obtuse, purblind, woodenheaded; brainless, dumb, feebleminded, foolish, idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), knuckleheaded, moronic, silly, simple, slow, slow-witted, stupid, thoughtless, unintelligent, witless; undiscriminating

See Synonym Discussion at shrewd

Rhymes with SAGACIOUS

audacious, bodacious, capacious, cetaceous, crustaceous, curvaceous, drupaceous, edacious, fallacious, flirtatious, fugacious, hellacious, herbaceous, loquacious, mendacious, micaceous, pomaceous, predaceous, pugnacious, rapacious, rosaceous, salacious, sebaceous, sequacious, setaceous, tenacious, testaceous, tufaceous, ungracious, veracious, vinaceous, voracious