Shrewdness

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Shrewd \Shrewd\, a. [Compar. {Shrewder}; superl. {Shrewdest}.]
     [Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]
     1. Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence,
        vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious;
        rough; unfair; shrewish. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              [Egypt] hath many shrewd havens, because of the
              great rocks that ben strong and dangerous to pass
              by.                                   --Sir J.
                                                    Mandeville.
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              Every of this happy number
              That have endured shrewd days and nights with us.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. Artful; wily; cunning; arch.
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              These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues.
                                                    --Shak.
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     3. Able or clever in practical affairs; sharp in business;
        astute; sharp-witted; sagacious; keen; as, a shrewd
        observer; a shrewd design; a shrewd reply.
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              Professing to despise the ill opinion of mankind
              creates a shrewd suspicion that we have deserved it.
                                                    --Secker.
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     Syn: Keen; critical; subtle; artful; astute; sagacious;
          discerning; acute; penetrating.
  
     Usage: {Shrewd}, {Sagacious}. One who is shrewd is keen to
            detect errors, to penetrate disguises, to foresee and
            guard against the selfishness of others. Shrewd is a
            word of less dignity than sagacious, which implies a
            comprehensive as well as penetrating mind, whereas
            shrewd does not.
            [1913 Webster] -- {Shrewd"ly}, adv. -- {Shrewd"ness},
            n.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  shrewdness
       n : intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business
           dealings) [syn: {astuteness}, {perspicacity}, {perspicaciousness}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  57 Moby Thesaurus words for "shrewdness":
     Italian hand, acumen, acuteness, animal cunning, art, artfulness,
     artifice, astuteness, cageyness, callidity, canniness, cleverness,
     craft, craftiness, cunning, cunningness, deviousness, discernment,
     discrimination, fine Italian hand, finesse, foxiness, gamesmanship,
     guile, guilefulness, ingeniousness, insidiousness, inventiveness,
     keenness, low cunning, one-upmanship, pawkiness, penetration,
     percipience, perspicacity, readiness, resourcefulness,
     satanic cunning, sharpness, shiftiness, slickness, slipperiness,
     slyness, sneakiness, sophistry, stealth, stealthiness, subtility,
     subtilty, subtleness, subtlety, suppleness, trickiness, wariness,
     wiles, wiliness, wit