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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ability to perceive, understand |
| Synonyms: | IQ, acuity, acumen, agility, alertness, aptitude, brainpower, brains, brightness, brilliance, capacity, cleverness, comprehension, coruscation, discernment, gray matter, intellect, judgment, luminosity, mentality, mind, penetration, perception, perspicacity, precocity, quickness, quotient, reason, sagacity, savvy, sense, skill, smarts, subtlety, the right stuff, trenchancy, understanding, what it takes, wit |
| Antonyms: | ignorance, inability, ineptness |
| Concept: | Intelligence. Wisdom. |
| Synonyms: |
-nouns
intelligence, capacity, comprehension, understanding; cuteness, sabe [U.S.], savvy [U.S.]; intellect; nous, parts, sagacity, mother wit, wit, esprit, gumption, quick parts, grasp of intellect; acuteness; acumen, subtlety, penetration, perspicacy, perspicacity; discernment, due sense of, good judgment; discrimination; cunning; refinement (taste)., head, brains, headpiece, upper story, long head; eagle eye, eagle glance; eye of a lynx, eye of a hawk., wisdom, sapience, sense; good sense, common sense, horse sense [U.S.], plain sense; rationality, reason; reasonableness; judgment; solidity, depth, profundity, caliber; enlarged views; reach of thought, compass of thought; enlargement of mind., genius, inspiration, geist, fire of genius, heaven-born genius, soul; talent (aptitude)., [Wisdom in action] prudence [more]; vigilance; tact; foresight; sobriety, self-possession, aplomb, ballast., a bright thought, not a bad idea.
-verbs
be intelligent; have all one's wits about one; understand (intelligible); catch an idea, take in an idea; take a joke, take a hint., see through, see at a glance, see with half an eye, see far into, see through a millstone; penetrate; discern (descry); foresee., discriminate; know what's what [more]; listen to reason.
-adjectives
[Applied to persons] intelligent, quick of apprehension, keen, acute, alive, brainy, awake, bright, quick, sharp; quick witted, keen witted, clear witted, sharp-eyed, sharp sighted, sharp witted; wide-awake; canny, shrewd, astute; clear-headed; farsighted; discerning, perspicacious, penetrating, piercing; argute; nimble-witted, needle-witted; sharp as a needle; alive to (cognizant); clever (apt); arch (cunning); pas si bete; acute., wise, sage, sapient, sagacious, reasonable, rational, sound, in one's right mind, sensible, abnormis sapiens, judicious, strong-minded., unprejudiced, unbiased, unbigoted, unprepossessed; undazzled, unperplexed; of unwarped judgment, impartial, equitable, fair., cool; cool-headed, long-headed, hardheaded, strong-headed; long-sighted, calculating, thoughtful, reflecting; solid, deep, profound.
-phrases
aut regem aut fatuum nasci oportet; "but with the morning cool reflection came" [Scott]; flosculi sententiarum; les affaires font les hommes; mas vale saber que haber; mas vale ser necio que profiadol nemo solus sapit [Plautus]; nosce te; nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit [Seneca, from Aristotle]; sapere
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| Antonyms: | imbecility, folly |
| Browse Concept Index » | |
| Main Entry: | ability |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | power to act, perform |
| Synonyms: | aptitude, capability, capacity, competence, competency, comprehension, dexterity, endowment, facility, faculty, intelligence, might, potentiality, qualification, resourcefulness, skill, strength, talent, understanding |
| Notes: | applied to a person, ability and capacity mean about the same thing but are grammatically different: an ability to do something, a capacity for doing something; ability is qualitative while capacity is quantitative |
| Antonyms: | impotence, inability, limitation, paralysis |
| Main Entry: | acumen |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ability to understand and reason |
| Synonyms: | acuity, acuteness, astuteness, awareness, brains, brilliance, cleverness, comprehension, cunning, discernment, discrimination, farsightedness, good taste, grasp, guile, ingenuity, insight, intellect, intelligence, intuition, judgment, keenness, perception, percipience, perspicacity, perspicuity, refinement, sagacity, sensitivity, sharpness, shrewdness, smartness, smarts, understanding, vision, wisdom, wit |
| Notes: | acumen suggests that keenness relates to a person's mind, whereas acuity suggests that it relates to a person's performance; acumen is something that a person has, whereas acuity is something that a person displays |
| Antonyms: | denseness, ignorance, inability, ineptness, obtuseness, stupidity |
| Main Entry: | apprehension |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | understanding |
| Synonyms: | awareness, comprehension, grasp, idea, intellect, intelligence, judgment, ken, knowledge, notion, perception, perspicacity, thought |
| Antonyms: | imperception, misunderstanding |
| Main Entry: | aptitude |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | quickness at learning |
| Synonyms: | ability, capability, capacity, cleverness, competence, faculty, flair, gift, giftedness, intelligence, knack, proficiency, savvy, smarts, stuff*, talent, what it takes |
| Notes: | aptitude and attitude derive from Latin aptitudo 'fitness,' the first through French, the second through a French borrowing of Italian attitudine |
| Antonyms: | incapacity, stupidity |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | capacity |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ability; competency |
| Synonyms: | adequacy, aptitude, aptness, bent, brains, caliber, capability, cleverness, compass, competence, efficiency, facility, faculty, forte, genius, gift, inclination, intelligence, knack, might, power, qualification, readiness, skill, stature, strength, talent, the goods, up to it, what it takes |
| Notes: | applied to a person, ability and capacity mean about the same thing but are grammatically different: an ability to do something, a capacity for doing something; ability is qualitative while capacity is quantitative capacity refers to a general ability to comprehend an issue or perform a task; capability implies a reference to one of a set of such abilities |
| Antonyms: | impotence, inability, incompetence |
| Main Entry: | character |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | integrity |
| Synonyms: | courage, fame, honor, intelligence, mind, name, place, position, rank, rectitude, rep, report, reputation, repute, standing, station, status, uprightness |
| Notes: | character is what one is; reputation is what one is thought to be by others |
| Main Entry: | cleverness |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | brightness, ingenuity |
| Synonyms: | ability, adroitness, astuteness, brains, calculation, canniness, dexterity, discernment, flair, gift, gumption, intelligence, quick wit, quickness, resourcefulness, sagacity, sense, sharpness, shrewdness, skill, smartness, talent, wisdom, wit |
| Antonyms: | foolishness, ignorance, naievety, senselessness, stupidity |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
