A.Word.A.Day--sagacity

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msesheta

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Jan 18, 2012, 9:41:04 AM1/18/12

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Wordsmith.org

The Magic of Words

Jan 16, 2012

This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
sagacity

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Why do you learn new words? For some, it's the joy of discovering new and unusual specimens in the language and the stories behind them. For others, it's to improve their vocabulary, whether for college or work.

Sometimes readers write to say, "I'll never have a chance to use these words!" You will. As you can see from the usage examples taken from newspapers, magazines, and books, words featured in AWAD are not from a museum. They're words that are in current use, even though you may not read them as often.

Still, we take the point. What some are looking for are more practical words: words they can use in an office memo or in a term paper; words they are more likely to come across in a trade report or college exam.

This week we'll offer you five such practical words. Go ahead, employ them, put them into practice.

sagacity

PRONUNCIATION:

(suh-GAS-i-tee)

MEANING:

noun: Keen judgment or wisdom.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin sagacitas (wisdom), from sagire (to perceive keenly). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sag- (to seek out), which is also the source of seek, ransack, ramshackle, forsake, and hegemony. Earliest documented use: 1607.

USAGE:

"In a moment of odd sagacity, Sarah Palin lamented that the contest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination had become just another reality television show."
Donald Mitchell; Palin Pulls a Palin; Los Angeles Times; Oct 9, 2011.

Explore "sagacity" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. -Frederick Douglass, Former slave, abolitionist, editor, and orator (1817-1895)