SHREWD

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does shrewd mean? 

• SHREWD (adjective)
  The adjective SHREWD has 2 senses:

1. marked by practical hardheaded intelligence

2. acting with a specific goal

  Familiarity information: SHREWD used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHREWD (adjective)

Comparative: shrewder   
Superlative: shrewdest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by practical hardheaded intelligence

Synonyms:

astute; sharp; shrewd

Context example:

he was too shrewd to go along with them on a road that could lead only to their overthrow

Similar:

smart (showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness)

Derivation:

shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Acting with a specific goal

Synonyms:

calculating; calculative; conniving; scheming; shrewd

Context example:

the most calculating and selfish men in the community

Similar:

hard (dispassionate)

Derivation:

shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

 Context examples 

There was much sense in your smile: it was very shrewd, and seemed to make light of your own abstraction.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Every blow was shrewd to hurt; and he delivered a multitude of blows.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In a little time your wrist will be stronger and your cut more shrewd.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was in taking advantage of such circumstances that the art of ringcraft lay, and many a shrewd and vigilant second had won a losing battle for his man.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She is a shrewd, intelligent, sensible woman.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

‘You seem to have made a vast impression upon my brother Arthur,’ said he; ‘and I know that he is a pretty shrewd judge.’

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

I'm afraid I am a shrewd merchant, peering into the scales, trying to weigh your love and find out what manner of thing it is.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The man struck the shrewd blow he had purposely withheld for so long, and Buck crumpled up and went down, knocked utterly senseless.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Louis surveyed me with his shrewd grey eyes, and shook his head portentously.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He reluctantly departs, but his wrongs weigh upon his spirit, and by-and-by when an opportunity comes to redress them, he outwits Mamma by a shrewd bargain.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)