astute

English

Etymology

From Latin astūtus, from astus (“craft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əsˈtjuːt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt

Adjective

astute (comparative astuter, superlative astutest)

1. Quickly and critically discerning.
2. Shrewd or crafty.

   astute analysis

   astute observation

   astute remark

   • 23 September 2014, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:

     The best headteachers are like submarine captains – cool-headed, astute decision-makers – who trust their colleagues and surroundings to indicate where their ship is headed.

Synonyms

• crafty, shrewd, wily, knowing

Derived terms

• astutely
• astuteness
• unastute

Translations

Quick at seeing how to gain advantage

Afrikaans: skerpsinnig Arabic: دَاهٍ (dāhin) (indefinite), الدَّاهِي (ad-dāhī) (definite) Azerbaijani: dirigöz, diribaş, zirək Basque: azeri (eu) Bulgarian: хитър (bg) (hitǎr), проницателен (bg) (pronicatelen) Catalan: astut (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 精明 (zh) (jīngmíng) Czech: prohnaný, mazaný, prozíravý (cs) Danish: dreven, kvik, skarpsindig Dutch: scherpzinnig (nl) Finnish: terävä (fi), neuvokas (fi) French: astucieux (fr), avisé (fr), sagace (fr) Frisian: skerpsinnig, listich German: gerissen (de), listig (de), scharfsinnig (de) Hungarian: ravasz (hu) Icelandic: slyngur, kænn (is), séður Irish: amhainseach (literary), amhnas (literary) Italian: avveduto (it) Japanese: 抜け目のない (ぬけめのない, nukemenonai) Macedonian: про́никлив (prónikliv), остро́умен (ostróumen), и́тар (ítar) Maori: mūrere, pūmahara, kokoi Norwegian: Bokmål: dreven, kvikk, skarpsindig, listig, slu Polish: chytry (pl) m, przebiegły (pl) m Portuguese: astuto (pt) Russian: проница́тельный (ru) (pronicátelʹnyj), хи́трый (ru) (xítryj), сообрази́тельный (ru) (soobrazítelʹnyj) Spanish: astuto (es), sagaz (es), perspicaz (es) Swedish: skarpsinnig (sv), knipslug (sv), listig (sv), slug (sv) Tagalog: tuso Turkish: basiretli (tr), keskin zekâlı

Anagrams

• statue

Estonian

Verb

astute

1. Second-person plural present form of astuma.

Italian

Adjective

astute f pl

1. feminine plural of astuto

Anagrams

• statue

Latin

Adverb

astūtē (comparative astūtius, superlative astūtissimē)

1. craftily, cunningly, slyly

References

• “astute”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “astute”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “astute”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.