Wiktionary

acumen

English edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin acūmen (“sharp point”).

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈækjʊmən/, /əˈkjuːmən/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈkjumən/, /ˈækjəmən/
  • (US, rare) IPA(key): /æˈkjumən/, /ˈækjəˌmɛn/

Noun edit

acumen (usually uncountable, plural acumens or acumina)

  1. Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination.
    Synonyms: sharpness, penetration, keenness, shrewdness, acuteness, acuity, wit, foxiness, intelligence, canniness
    • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXVII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 168:
      "I am going to ask you a question that does not require much legal acumen to answer," said Lord Meersbrook to his attorney, when he called the next day in Lincoln's Inn;...
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes. […] But withal there was a perceptible acumen about the man which was puzzling in the extreme.
    • 1905, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
      No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen, I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor.
    • 1991, Ted Tally, The Silence of the Lambs (motion picture), spoken by Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins):
      Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling? Enthrall me with your acumen.
  2. (botany) A sharp, tapering point extending from a plant.
    • 1930, Prilozhenie, page 519:
      The black star of the corolla, characteristic of the original form, the manyfloweredness of the inflorescence (often connected with [3]—4 whirls), upper leaves in the inflorescence, adpression of the acumina of the calyx, its size, the closely situated anthers, long pistils, the length of the pedicel above and below the articulation and the thickness of the pedicel dominate.
    • 1956, S.M. Bukasov, Translation of THEORETICAL BASES OF PLAN BREEDING‎[1], page 6:
      11. S. boyacense. Resembles S. Rybinii from which it is distinguished by the greater dissection of the leaves, the longer calyx acumens, smaller anthers and coloured corolla.
    • 1960, Svensk botanisk tidskrift, page 385:
      Finally, the acumina of all the narrowly lanceolate leaves of both species tend to be straight rather than curved.
    • 1978, chapter 2, in The Potato Crop: The scientific basis for improvement‎[2], →ISBN, page 30:
      Herbs with long creeping stolons; leaves with coarse white hairs, or glabrous. The arched corolla lobes and large acumens give the corolla a circular appearance with acumens standing out sharply from it. Corolla occasionally, however, substellate.
    • 1986, The Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory, page 449:
      […] the stem leaves lack recurved serrations on the margins, the acumina of the branch leaves are usually distinctly dentate.
    • 1990, Cryptogamic Botany, Volume 2‎[3], page 315:
      In our opinion, specimens of I. pilifera represent a robust expression of I. sinensis with many stem and branch leaves becoming strongly concave and broadly ovate to obovate in outline, thereby intensifying the abrupt contraction of the pilaferous acumens. It is best accepted as a variety of N. comes. The length of leaf acumens is another variable character expressed by Barbella amoena. Thus, it is also better combined with the var. pilifera as a synonym.
    • 2002, Blumea Supplement, page 327:
      They examined the characters that were used by Paris (1908) to distinguish C. japonicum Broth. ex Paris from C. tonkinense: “Les charactères invoqués par Paris [Rev. Bryol., p. 46, 1908) pour distinguer la plante du Tonkin de celle du Japon s’évanouissent à l’examen, …”, and stated that the acumina of the leaves are narrower, and that those of the amphigastria are narrower and longer in C. japonicum Broth. ex Paris than in C. tonkinense.
  3. (anatomy) A bony, often sharp, protuberance, especially that of the ischium.
    • c. 1918, University of California, Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid collection, Volume 1586‎[4], page 692:
      The rostrum is the anterior extension of the carapace between the eyes. It ends in a more or less acute tip, or acumen, and may have a lateral spine on each side or bear a longitudinal keel (carina) on the dorsal surface.
    • 1981, Horton Holcombe Hobbs, The Crayfishes of Georgia: Issue 318 of Smithsonian contributions to zoology, Smithsonian Institution‎[5], page 486:
      DIAGNOSIS—Rostrum usually with marginal spines, tubercles, or angles at base of acumen, and rarely with low medina carina.
    • 1993, Biological Society of Washington, Smithsonian Institution, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Volume 106‎[6], page 351:
      Variations.—Most specimens examined have concave rostral margins that taper to the acumen and the rostral length is greater than the rostral width.

Related terms edit

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eḱ-‎ (0 c, 55 e)

Translations edit

Further reading edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From acuō (“make sharp or pointed, sharpen”) +‎ -men (noun-forming suffix), from acus (“a needle, a pin”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

acūmen n (genitive acūminis); third declension

  1. a sharpened point

Declension edit

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative acūmen acūmina
Genitive acūminis acūminum
Dative acūminī acūminibus
Accusative acūmen acūmina
Ablative acūmine acūminibus
Vocative acūmen acūmina

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Related terms

Descendants edit

  • Galician: gume
  • Portuguese: gume

References edit

  • “acumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “acumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • acumen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[7], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • penetration; sagacity: ingenii acumen

Spanish edit

Noun edit

acumen m (plural acúmenes)

  1. acumen
  2. (botany) acumen

Further reading edit

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