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sagacity

The quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment or penetration with soundness of judgment; shrewdness. Some [brutes] show that nice sagacity of smell. (Cowper) Natural sagacity improved by generous education. (V. Knox)

Synonym: penetration, shrewdness, judiciousness.

Sagacity, penetration. Penetration enables us to enter into the depths of an abstruse subject, to detect motives, plans, etc. Sagacity adds to penetration a keen, practical judgment, which enables one to guard against the designs of others, and to turn everything to the best possible advantage.

Origin: L. Sagacitas. See Sagacious.