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• sage
  sage

  noun

  a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.
• Sage
  Sage

  noun

  Russell, 1816–1906, U.S. financier.

sage

¹ American  

[sayj] / seɪdʒ /

noun

1. 

   a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.

   Synonyms:

   philosopher

   Antonyms:

   fool

2. someone venerated for the possession of wisdom, judgment, and experience.

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adjective

sager, sagest

1. wise, judicious, or prudent.

   sage advice.

   Synonyms:

   sagacious

sage ² American  

[sayj] / seɪdʒ /

noun

1. any plant or shrub belonging to the genus Salvia, of the mint family.

2. an herb, Salvia officinalis, whose grayish-green leaves are used medicinally and in cooking.

3. the leaves of the medicinal and culinary herb Salvia officinalis.

4. sagebrush.

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Sage ³ American  

[sayj] / seɪdʒ /

noun

1. Russell, 1816–1906, U.S. financier.

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sage ¹ British  

/ seɪdʒ /

noun

1. a man revered for his profound wisdom

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adjective

1. profoundly wise or prudent

2. obsolete solemn

sage ² British  

/ seɪdʒ /

noun

1. a perennial Mediterranean plant, Salvia officinalis, having grey-green leaves and purple, blue, or white flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)

2. the leaves of this plant, used in cooking for flavouring

3. short for sagebrush

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Other Word Forms

• sageness
  noun
• sagely
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of sage¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin sapius (unattested), from Latin sap(ere) “to taste, have taste, smell, smell of; to have sense, discern, know, be wise” + -idus; see origin at sapient, -id ⁴

Origin of sage²

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English sa ( u ) ge, from Middle French sau ( l ) ge, from Latin salvia, derivative of salvus safe (so named from its supposed healing powers)

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Explanation

Use the word sage for someone or something wise and judicious. Thanks to the sage advice of your friend, you didn't write your teacher an angry e-mail! Although you might think of a wizard when you hear the word sage, really it means a wise man. Today you see it used to refer to someone who has insight in a particular field. If someone is a policy sage, he knows just what advice to give politicians to make them understand the issue and respond successfully to it. In a totally unrelated use, there is also a plant called sage that is useful in home remedies and cooking.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sage Sage sager sagest

But Bettany, whose character Vision is an android attempting to piece together his wiped memories and fragile humanity, had some sage advice.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

How she stumbles away from mourning is sometimes weird, but one of her friends offers sage advice as she does so: “It’s okay to be messy. That’s life, you know.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Parsley, chives, dill, sage, thyme — use what you have, and probably more of it than you initially think you need.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

The colorful aesthetic follows into the kitchen, which is adorned with sage green cabinetry, a wooden island, and state-of-the-art appliances.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Nathan inserted a sprig of lavender and two sage leaves into the kettle.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Jean-Philippe Mateta was shown an early red card as Crystal Palace lose 2-0 at Tottenham to increase the pressure on manager Pierre Sage.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Noren of Sage Road Research said that Anthropic needs a wider customer base and that it is still too early to gauge whether it will remain at the top of the industry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

Former Manchester United and England forward Dion Dublin said Sage needed to be tougher if he is to have a long-term future at Palace.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

French football expert Julien Laurens said Sage needed to be more ruthless.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

Darren and Sage and Candace and them walked away, laughing, and I picked the jar up off the grass and handed it to Betsy.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Fox News’ Jessica sager contributed to this report.

From Fox News ● Aug. 28, 2019

The same day, his wife decided she should leave him for a slimmer, sager man.

From Time Magazine Archive

How about the remark of reputedly sager and more worldly-wise of the founding fathers: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

From Time Magazine Archive

If they could trust his sincerity, Republicans could have found no sager counselor than Charley Michelson.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was well up in life, probably, before these sager views dawned upon him.

From Horace by Theodore Martin

But joining the Little Red Book author in a shrine to the all-time sagest minds in golf would be his English counterpart, John Jacobs.

From Golf Digest ● Oct. 16, 2013

Perhaps not the sagest fellow to counsel the future Queen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Scapegoat elected for Mussolini's Albanian fiasco was white-haired, crinkle-eyed Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Chief of the General Staff, universally recognized as Italy's sagest soldier.

From Time Magazine Archive

"By 1997 some filmmakers will have been absorbed into Hollywood," says Norman Wang, a New York-based film publicist and one of the Hong Kong industry's sagest insiders.

From Time Magazine Archive

“The impressions he made upon me suggested he was not of the sagest, nor of the most excellent of men.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

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