Word of the Day

: September 5, 2016

sagacious

adjective suh-GAY-shus

What It Means

1 : of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment : discerning
2 : caused by or indicating acute discernment

sagacious in Context

"Star's limitless patience and unconditional support …, coupled with the sagacious advice and guidance he gave me through the many years, elevates him to a very special position on my list." — Vincent Bugliosi, Four Days in November, 2007

"… I would like to be young again—for the obvious dermatological advantages, and because I would like to recapture who I was before the clutter of experience made me a bit more sagacious and exhausted." — Andrew Solomon, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2015

Did You Know?

You might expect the root of sagacious to be sage, which means "wise" or "wise man," but that wouldn't be a wise assumption. Despite their similarities, the two words are not all that closely related. Sagacious traces back to sagire, a Latin verb meaning "to perceive keenly." It's also related to the Latin adjective sagus ("prophetic"), which is the ancestor of our verb seek. Etymologists believe that sage comes from a different Latin verb, sapere, which means "to taste," "to have good taste," or "to be wise."