ACUMEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does acumen mean? 

• ACUMEN (noun)
  The noun ACUMEN has 2 senses:

1. a tapering point

2. shrewdness shown by keen insight

  Familiarity information: ACUMEN used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACUMEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tapering point

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("acumen" is a kind of...):

enation; plant process (a natural projection or outgrowth from a plant body or organ)

Derivation:

acuminate (make sharp or acute; taper; make (something) come to a point)

acuminate ((of a leaf shape) narrowing to a slender point)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Shrewdness shown by keen insight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

acumen; insightfulness

Hypernyms ("acumen" is a kind of...):

astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

Derivation:

acuminate (make sharp or acute; taper; make (something) come to a point)

 Context examples 

With all respect for your natural acumen, I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For a man who was never in the country, and who did not evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were wonderful.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But when St. John had mused a few moments he recommenced as imperturbably and with as much acumen as ever.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr. Rochester had sometimes read my unspoken thoughts with an acumen to me incomprehensible: in the present instance he took no notice of my abrupt vocal response; but he smiled at me with a certain smile he had of his own, and which he used but on rare occasions.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)