acuity

English

Etymology

From Middle English acuite, acuyte, from Middle French acuité, from Medieval Latin acuitas, irreg., from Latin acuō (“sharpen”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈkjuːɪti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

acuity (plural acuities)

1. Sharpness or acuteness, as of a needle, wit, etc.
2. (figurative) The ability to think, see, or hear clearly.

   The old woman with dementia lost her mental acuity.

   • 2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker‎^[1], →ISSN:

     And yet Dalio’s acuity prompts an awkward question: how much of Bridgewater’s success comes not from the way it is organized, or any notion of “radical transparency,” but from the boss’s raw investment abilities?

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:wisdom

Derived terms

• hyperacuity
• stereoacuity
• visual acuity

 

Related terms

• acute
• acutance
• acuteness
• acuition

Translations

sharpness or acuteness

• Asturian: agudeza f
• Belarusian: вастрыня́ f (vastrynjá)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 銳利／锐利 (zh) (ruìlì), 尖銳／尖锐 (zh) (jiānruì), 敏銳／敏锐 (zh) (mǐnruì)

• Danish: skarphed c
• Dutch: scherpte (nl) f
• Esperanto: sagaceco
• Finnish: terävyys (fi)
• French: acuité (fr) f
• Galician: acuidade (gl) f
• German: Schärfe (de) f
• Greek: οξυδέρκεια (el) f (oxydérkeia)
• Hungarian: élesség (hu)
• Italian: acutezza (it) f
• Maori: nahotanga
• Polish: ostrość (pl) f
• Portuguese: acuidade (pt) f
• Romanian: acuitate (ro) f
• Russian: острота́ (ru) f (ostrotá), ре́зкость (ru) f (rézkostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: oštrina (sh) f, akuitet m
• Spanish: acuidad (es) f, agudeza (es) f
• Swedish: skärpa (sv) c
• Ukrainian: гострота́ f (hostrotá)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} percepció (ca) f
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} scherpzinnigheid (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} perception (fr) f
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} discernere (ro), ^{(please verify)} percepere (ro), ^{(please verify)} sesizare (ro)

Further reading

• “acuity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “acuity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “acuity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.