acuity

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)

Sharpness or acuteness, as of a needle, wit, etc.
(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, →ISSN:
  And yet [Ray] 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?
- 2025 August 3, Adam Gabbatt, “‘He has trouble completing a thought’: bizarre public appearances again cast doubt on Trump’s mental acuity”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
  Donald Trump’s frequently bizarre public appearances […] have once again raised questions about his mental acuity, experts say. […] During his presidency, Joe Biden was subjected to intense speculation over his mental acuity – including from Trump.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:wisdom

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

sharpness or acuteness

Asturian: agudeza f
Belarusian: вастрыня́ f (vastrynjá)
Bulgarian: острота (bg) f (ostrota)
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)