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Shrewd   /ʃrud/   Listen
adjective
Shrewd  adj.  (compar. shrewder; superl. shrewdest)  
1.
Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish. (Obs.) "(Egypt) hath many shrewd havens, because of the great rocks that ben strong and dangerous to pass by." "Every of this happy number That have endured shrewd days and nights with us."
2.
Artful; wily; cunning; arch. "These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues."
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. "Professing to despise the ill opinion of mankind creates a shrewd suspicion that we have deserved it."
Synonyms: Keen; critical; subtle; artful; astute; sagacious; discerning; acute; penetrating. 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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Shrewd" Quotes from Famous Books



... months; and by that time I could reckon among my acquired friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary of the Province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several of the Smiths, members of Assembly, and Isaac Decow, the surveyor-general. The latter was a shrewd, sagacious old man, who told me that he began for himself, when young, by wheeling clay for brick-makers, learned to write after he was of age, carri'd the chain for surveyors, who taught him surveying, and he had now by his industry, acquir'd a good estate; and says he, "I foresee that ...
— Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • Benjamin Franklin

... him to sea. Let the captains ship their own crews on board the ship, and do away with the system of advances. But, at any rate, do learn to treat the sailor as if he were not altogether a fool. He has sense, plenty of it, shrewd, strong, common sense, and more real gentlemanly feeling than we on shore generally suppose, a good deal of faith, and certain standing principles of sea-morality. But at the same time he has prejudices and whims utterly unaccountable to men living on shore. He will forfeit one or two ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, Issue 15, January, 1859 • Various

... long to wait. A shrewd hissing apprised him that something unusual was about to occur. Like the flight of a great rocket a black object quickly mounted to the zenith. It did not become visible for several seconds; Gerald's nerves crisped with ...
— Visionaries • James Huneker

... Ethel had a shrewd suspicion where she should find him; and in the nursery he was, playing at spillekens with his ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Lidhurst's tutor? I never saw any of these cold moralists who were real, warm-hearted, good friends. I have a notion I see more of Russell's play in the house where he has got than he thinks I do; and I can form a shrewd guess why he was so zealous in warning you of the report about Lady Sarah Lidhurst—he had his own snug reasons for wanting you away—Oh, trust me for scenting out self-interest, through all the doublings and windings of your ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. V - Tales of a Fashionable Life • Maria Edgeworth


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