Shrewd \Shrewd\, a. [Compar. Shrewder; superl. Shrewdest.]
[Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]
1. Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence,
vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious;
rough; unfair; shrewish. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
[Egypt] hath many shrewd havens, because of the
great rocks that ben strong and dangerous to pass
by. --Sir J.
Mandeville.
[1913 Webster]
Every of this happy number
That have endured shrewd days and nights with us.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Artful; wily; cunning; arch.
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These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues.
--Shak.
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3. Able or clever in practical affairs; sharp in business;
astute; sharp-witted; sagacious; keen; as, a shrewd
observer; a shrewd design; a shrewd reply.
[1913 Webster]
Professing to despise the ill opinion of mankind
creates a shrewd suspicion that we have deserved it.
--Secker.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Keen; critical; subtle; artful; astute; sagacious;
discerning; acute; penetrating.
Usage: Shrewd, Sagacious. One who is shrewd is keen to
detect errors, to penetrate disguises, to foresee and
guard against the selfishness of others. Shrewd is a
word of less dignity than sagacious, which implies a
comprehensive as well as penetrating mind, whereas
shrewd does not.
[1913 Webster] --
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
shrewd
adj 1: marked by practical hardheaded intelligence; "a smart
businessman"; "an astute tenant always reads the small
print in a lease"; "he was too shrewd to go along with
them on a road that could lead only to their
overthrow" [syn: astute, sharp]
2: used of persons; "the most calculating and selfish men in
the community" [syn: calculating, calculative, conniving,
scheming]
WordNet (r) 2.0
95 Moby Thesaurus words for "shrewd":
Byzantine, Daedalian, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, acute,
all-knowing, apperceptive, appercipient, apprehending,
apprehensive, arch, artful, astute, aware, cagey, calculated,
calculating, canny, clever, cognizant, comprehending, conscious,
crafty, cunning, cute, deceitful, deep, deep-laid, designing,
devious, diplomatic, discerning, farsighted, feline, foresighted,
foxy, guileful, heady, ingenious, insidious, insightful,
intelligent, inventive, judicious, keen, knowing, knowledgeable,
manipulative, mindful, omniscient, pawky, penetrating, perceptive,
percipient, perspicacious, piercing, polite, politic, prehensile,
probing, prudent, quick-witted, ready, resourceful, sagacious,
sage, savvy, scheming, sensible, serpentine, sharp, shifty, slick,
slippery, sly, smart, smooth, snaky, sneaky, sophistical, stealthy,
strategic, subtile, subtle, supple, tactical, tidy, trickish,
tricksy, tricky, understanding, vulpine, wary, wily, wise
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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