acuity

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

• IPA^(key): /əˈkjuːɪti/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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, →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?

• See Thesaurus:wisdom

• acute
• acutance
• acuteness
• acuition

• “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.