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MERIAM WEBSTER DEFINITION OF ASTUTE
ASTUTE:
Having or showing shrewdness and an ability to understand things clearly: mentally sharp or clever - an astute observer - astute remarks - also; crafty, wily
Examples of astute in a Sentence We thought they were not very intellectually astute, but we didn't really understand how political a lot of what they were doing was. —Ben Wallace-Wells, Rolling Stone, 15 Nov. 2007 He asked astute diagnosticians around the country how they approached and cracked difficult diagnoses and what happened when they failed. Misdiagnosis is not an insignificant problem: Groopman cites a finding that between one in six and one in seven patients is incorrectly assessed. —Ruth Levy Guyer, Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2007 And finally, even if she had never actually uttered the bon mot that would be famously attributed to her, that if she had two heads, she would risk one in the king's service, could the astute young duchess actually have had input into the implausible negotiations? —Harvey Rachlin, Scandals, Vandals, and Da Vincis, 2007 Focusing largely upon Western alchemy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, she has a sharp eye for how alchemical images surface in literature of that period. Readers of Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare will find illuminating insights. Abraham reveals the far reaches of her astute literary intelligence by analyzing alchemical imagery encoded in a broad range of works, from Chaucer and Milton to Vladimir Nabokov and P.G. Wodehouse. —Norman Weinstein, Parabola, November 1999 He is an astute observer of the current political scene. Astute readers will notice the error. His analysis of the battle was very astute. Recent Examples of astute from the Web That would be astute of her, in a feral kind of way. — carolyn hax, Detroit Free Press, "Refusing to fight boyfriend’s mom battles for him," 15 July 2017 In 2016, the Hoosiers’ leading pass catcher at tight end was Danny Friend, an astute blocker who finished the season with seven catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns. — zach osterman, Indianapolis Star, "Position primer: Who's the man for IU at tight end?," 13 July 2017 In 2016, the Hoosiers’ leading pass catcher at tight end was Danny Friend, an astute blocker who finished the season with seven catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns. — zach osterman, The Courier-Journal, "Position primer: Who's the man for IU at tight end?," 13 July 2017 These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'astute.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback. The Difference Between astute, shrewd, and sagacious Astute is similar in meaning to shrewd and sagacious, but there are subtle differences in connotation among them. All three suggest sharp thinking and sound judgment, but shrewd stresses practical, hardheaded cleverness and judgment ("a shrewd judge of character"), whereas sagacious implies wisdom and foresight combined with good judgment ("sagacious investors"). Astute, which derives from the Latin noun astus, meaning "craft," suggests cleverness, mental sharpness, and diplomatic skill ("an astute player of party politics"). Origin and Etymology of astute Latin astutus, from astus craft astute Synonyms Synonyms shrewd, canny, clear-eyed, clear-sighted, hard-boiled, hardheaded, heady, knowing, savvy, sharp, sharp-witted, smart Antonyms unknowing Related Words artful, cagey (also cagey), crafty, cunning, devious, dodgy [chiefly British], foxy, guileful, pawky [chiefly British], slick, sly, subtle, tricky, wily; discerning, insightful, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, sagacious, sage, sapient, wise; experienced, veteran; discriminating, discriminative; agile, alert, brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, intelligent, keen, nimble, quick, quick-witted, sharp-eyed, sharp-sighted; apt, ingenious, resourceful; calculating, scheming Near Antonyms artless, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, naive (or naïve); exploitable, gullible (also gullable); unperceptive, unwise; dense, dull, obtuse; airheaded, birdbrained, brain-dead, brainless, dim-witted, dopey (also dopey), dumb, empty-headed, feebleminded,
