Word of the Day

: May 7, 2022

sagacious

adjective suh-GAY-shus

What It Means

Sagacious means "having or showing an ability to understand difficult ideas and situations and to make good decisions." It implies being wise or discerning.

// Student reviews paint the writing professor as a sagacious mentor and a compassionate teacher.

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sagacious in Context

"If depression crept in, she would phone her sagacious dad for advice…." — Tom Lanham, Spin, 8 Sept. 2021

Did You Know?

You might expect the root of sagacious to be sage, which, as an adjective, means "wise" or, as a noun, "a wise person." Despite similarities of spelling, sound, and sense, the two words are not closely related. Sagacious comes from sagire, a Latin verb meaning "to perceive keenly." Etymologists believe that sage comes from a different Latin verb, sapere, which means "to taste," "to have good taste," or "to be wise."