| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | discriminating |
| Synonyms: | acute, astute, bright, brilliant, clear-sighted, clever, critical, gnostic, ingenious, insighted, insightful, intelligent, judicious, knowing, knowledgeable, penetrating, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, piercing, sagacious, sage, sensitive, sharp, shrewd, subtle, wise |
| Antonyms: | disregardful, neglectful, negligent, overlooking, undiscerning, undiscriminating |
| Main Entry: | acute |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deeply perceptive |
| Synonyms: | astute, canny, clever, discerning, discriminating, incisive, ingenious, insightful, intense, intuitive, judicious, keen, observant, penetrating, perspicacious, piercing, quick-witted, sensitive, sharp, smart, subtle |
| Notes: | acute is used for a sudden onset and short duration; chronic is for conditions that are slow to develop and of long duration acute is an angle of less than 90 degrees; obtuse is one of more than 90 degrees chronic is contrasted with acute as chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments |
| Antonyms: | dense, imperceptive, insensitive, obtuse, slow, stupid |
| Main Entry: | astute |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | perceptive |
| Synonyms: | adroit, brainy, bright, calculating, canny, clever, crafty, discerning, foxy, insightful, intelligent, keen, knowing, not born yesterday, on the ball, perspicacious, quick on the uptake, sagacious, savvy, sharp, sharp as a tack, shrewd, sly |
| Antonyms: | asinine, idiotic, ignorant, imbecile, obtuse, shallow, stupid, thick, unintelligent |
| Main Entry: | bright |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | intelligent |
| Synonyms: | Einstein, acute, advanced, alert, astute, aware, brainy, brilliant, clear-headed, clever, discerning, eggheaded, having smarts, ingenious, inventive, keen, knowing, precocious, quick, quick-witted, sharp, smart, whiz kid, wide-awake |
| Antonyms: | dull, stupid, unaware, unintelligent |
| Main Entry: | brilliant |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | very intelligent |
| Synonyms: | Einstein, accomplished, acute, astute, brainy, bright, clever, discerning, eggheaded, expert, genius, gifted, ingenious, intellectual, inventive, knowing, knowledgeable, masterly, penetrating, profound, quick, quick-witted, sharp, smart, talented, whip, whiz kid |
| Antonyms: | stupid, unaware, unintelligent |
| Main Entry: | clairvoyant |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | intuitive, psychic |
| Synonyms: | clear-sighted, discerning, extrasensory, far-sighted, farseeing, fey, judicious, long-sighted, new age, oracular, penetrating, perceptive, prescient, prophetic, second-sighted, sibylline, spiritualistic, telepathic, vatic, visionary |
| Main Entry: | clever |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | bright, ingenious |
| Synonyms: | able, adept, adroit, alert, apt, astute, brainy, brilliant, cagey, canny, capable, competent, crackerjack*, cunning, deep, dexterous/dextrous, discerning, egghead, expert, foxy*, gifted, good, handy, intelligent, inventive, keen, knowing, knowledgeable, many-sided, nimble, nobody's fool, pretty, pro, qualified, quick, quick on trigger, quick-witted, rational, resourceful, sagacious, savvy, sensible, sharp, shrewd, skilled, skillful, slick, sly, smart, sprightly, talented, versatile, wise, witty |
| Antonyms: | awkward, foolish, idiotic, ignorant, naive, senseless, stupid, unclever |
| Main Entry: | conscious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | alert, awake |
| Synonyms: | able to recognize, acquainted, aesthetic, alive to, apperceptive, apprised, assured, attentive, au courant, aware, certain, cognizant, conversant, discerning, felt, hep to, in on, in right mind, informed, keen, knowing, known, mindful, noticing, noting, observing, on to, perceiving, percipient, recognizing, remarking, responsive, seeing, sensible, sensitive to, sentient, supraliminal, sure, understanding, vigilant, watchful, wise to, with it, witting |
| Notes: | conscience is the noun meaning 'a sense of right and wrong' while conscious is the adjective meaning 'aware of something, being awake' |
| Antonyms: | ignorant, impassive, indifferent, senseless, unaware, unconscious, unmindful, unresponsive |
| Main Entry: | critical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fault-finding, detracting |
| Synonyms: | analytical, belittling, biting, calumniatory, captious, carping, caviling, cavillous, censorious, censuring, choleric, condemning, critic, cutting, cynical, demanding, demeaning, derogatory, diagnostic, disapproving, discerning, discriminating, disparaging, exacting, exceptive, finicky, fussy, hairsplitting, humbling, hypercritical, lowering, nagging, niggling, nit-picking, overcritical, particular, penetrating, reproachful, sarcastic, satirical, scolding, severe, sharp, trenchant, withering |
| Antonyms: | complimentary, laudatory, praising |