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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

The smoke from Madrina’s cigars, sage, and candles forms iridescent clouds all around the room.

From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi

Kelly Hubbell, the founder and CEO of house-manager placement company Sage Haus, said her company has gathered a database of over 25,000 workers searching for this kind of gig.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

Sage Haus has placed workers with over 900 families this year, up from 100 in 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 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

Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage apologised to fans after the 5-0 battering by Brighton on Sunday and faces a fight to keep his job only four months after joining from Lens.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

“Duh,” Darren said as he held up the ball to serve, and Sage snorted as he passed me to go to the back of the line.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Fox News’ Jessica sager contributed to this report.

From Fox News ● Aug. 28, 2019

Most Britons, as Lord Byron once put it, "till by losing rendered sager, will back their own opinions by a wager."

From Time Magazine Archive

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Stonyhurst's sager Jesuits were more up to date in their psychology.

From Time Magazine Archive

Earls and Thanes, A nobler day is come; a sager king; In him I trust; in you; in Odin most, Our nation's strength, the bulwark of our throne.

From Legends of the Saxon Saints by Aubrey De Vere

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

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

Uncle Giorgio was the sagest bandit chieftain in Sicily and, as a man of rugged common sense, considerably disturbed about his favorite nephew, Aquila.

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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