Ever heard or used this word before?

The word of the day is perspicacious.

I first heard the word used by Bill O'Reilly as he was interviewing then-Senator Barack Obama on the Fox News Channel a month or two prior to the 2008 presidential election.

O'Reilly commended Obama on being perspicacious in his "original assessment of the battlefield" in Iraq.

Perspicacious means "having a ready insight to and understanding of things."

Synonyms include discerning, shrewd, perceptive, astute, sharp, clear-sighted, insightful, and discriminating.

From what I've seen, the word isn't used often, but it is a handy one to have nonetheless in case you want something in lieu of "insightful" or "sharp," which tend to come up more in daily conversation.

Had you ever heard of or used the word perspicacious before?

Comments

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