shrewd
Meaning
- Showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.
- Artful, tricky or cunning.
- (informal) streetwise, street-smart.
- Knowledgeable, intelligent, keen.
- Nigh accurate.
- Severe, intense, hard.
- Sharp, snithy, piercing.
- Bad, evil, threatening.
- (obsolete) Portending, boding.
- Noxious, scatheful, mischievous.
- (obsolete) Abusive, shrewish.
- Scolding, satirical, sharp.
Synonyms
without error
without slip
subtile
well-chosen
solidly built
wander about
long headed
great at
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ʃɹuːd/
Etymology
In summary
From Middle English schrewed (“depraved; wicked”, literally “accursed”), from schrewen (“to curse; beshrew”), from schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“evil or wicked person/thing”), from Old English sċrēawa (“wicked person”, literally “biter”). Equivalent to shrew + -ed. More at shrew. The sense of "cunning" developed in early 16ᵗʰ c., gradually gaining a positive connotation by 17ᵗʰ c.
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Notes
