perspicacious

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌpɜrspɪˈkeɪʃəs/ UK /ˌpɜːspɪˈkeɪʃəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
having keen mental discernment and understanding

Her perspicacious remarks cut straight to the heart of the matter.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · having keen mental... discerning perceptive astute shrewd insightful sharp acute penetrating

Opposites

obtuse undiscerning dullimperceptive

Word family

Derived forms perspicaciouslyperspicaciousness

Related forms perspicacity perspective conspicuous spectacle

Etymology

From Latin perspicax ('sharp-sighted, discerning'), from perspicere ('to see through, look closely'), from per- ('through') + specere ('to look, see'), with the English suffix -acious.

perspicax Latin specere Latin *spek- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# perspicacious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌpɜrspɪˈkeɪʃəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌpɜːspɪˈkeɪʃəs/

## Meanings
1. having keen mental discernment and understanding

## Examples
- Her perspicacious remarks cut straight to the heart of the matter.

## Synonyms
- discerning
- perceptive
- astute
- shrewd
- insightful
- sharp
- acute
- penetrating

## Antonyms
- obtuse
- undiscerning
- dull
- imperceptive

## Derived Forms
- perspicaciously
- perspicaciousness

## Related Forms
- perspicacity
- perspective
- conspicuous
- spectacle

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: perspicax
- Root: specere - to look at
- Root: *spek-

## Etymology
From Latin perspicax ('sharp-sighted, discerning'), from perspicere ('to see through, look closely'), from per- ('through') + specere ('to look, see'), with the English suffix -acious.

## AI Etymology
Perspicacious is from Latin perspicax ('sharp-sighted, discerning'), from perspicere ('to see through, look closely'), from per- ('through') + specere ('to look, see'), with the English suffix -acious. Important recorded forms include perspicax (Latin), specere (Latin), and *spek- (Proto-Indo-European). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers having keen mental discernment and understanding. The wider family includes derived forms such as perspicaciously and perspicaciousness and related words such as perspicacity, perspective, conspicuous, and spectacle.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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