perspicacious

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Fowler (1926) snootily urged the use of simpler alternatives by 'those who are neither learned nor pretentious'. Perspicacious means 'having mental penetration or discernment, discerning', and its corresponding noun is perspicacity. Perspicuous, on the other hand, means 'clear to understand' (with reference to people and statements), and its noun is perspicuity. It is the nouns that are confused rather than the adjectives, and the following examples of correct uses may help to distinguish them in the reader's mind:

He went through the photographs. But it didn't take much perspicacity to tell that some...were missing—Ruth Rendell, 1983

He [William Cobbett] wrote with perspicuity and vigour, in a prose style commended by Hazlitt as 'plain, broad, downright English'—Margaret Drabble, 2000.

Suitable alternative words are (for perspicacity) perception, perceptiveness, acuteness, and shrewdness, and (for perspicuity) clarity, lucidity, and lucidness.

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adjective

Having or showing a clever awareness and resourcefulness in practical matters: astute, cagey, canny, knowing, shrewd, slick, smart, wise¹. Informal savvy. See ability/inability, careful/careless.

adj

Definition: observant, perceptive
Antonyms: dull, ignorant, inattentive, unobservant, unperceptive

[fr. L. perspicere, see next]  of acute mental vision or discernment

For a list of words related to perspicacious, see:

• Intelligent, Informed, Clever, or Articulate
• Reason and Rationale - perspicacious: (adj) endowed with keen mental perception

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See words rhyming with "perspicacious."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Perspicacious.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - skarpsindig, indforstået

Nederlands (Dutch)
scherpzinnig

Français (French)
adj. - perspicace

Deutsch (German)
adj. - scharfsinnig

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - διορατικός, οξυδερκής

Italiano (Italian)
perspicace

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - perspicaz

Русский (Russian)
проницательный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - perspicaz

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - klarsynt, skärpt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
颖悟的, 有洞察力的, 聪明的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 穎悟的, 有洞察力的, 聰明的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 선견지명이 있는, 통찰력이 있는, 총명한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 明敏な, 洞察力のある

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) نافذ البصيرة, ثاقب الفكر, سريع الفهم للأمور والحكم عليها‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮חד-תפיסה, מבין‬

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