shrewd
[shrood]
- astute or sharp in practical matters: a shrewd politician.
- keen; piercing.
- artful(def 1).
- Archaic. malicious.
- Obsolete. bad1.
- Obsolete. shrewish.
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Origin of shrewd
Synonyms
See more synonyms for shrewd on Thesaurus.com1. quick, discerning, perceptive, perspicacious, sagacious, keen; discriminating, intelligent. See acute.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shrewd
Contemporary Examples
The deviating family melodrama has, thankfully, been replaced by shrewd spycraft.
‘Homeland’ Season 4: A Stripped-Down and Surprisingly Badass Return to FormMarlow Stern
September 30, 2014
As someone with a shrewd eye for the absurd, it is entirely possible somewhere Joan Rivers is smiling right now.
It stands to reason that nowadays, to do the latter would be shrewd indeed.
According to tradition, the typical Yankee peddler was thought to be so shrewd that he could carve and sell counterfeit nutmegs.
They listen to their shrewd father, Tywin Lannister, smear their dead son in front of his corpse.
Game of Thrones’ Most WTF Sex Scene: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on Jaime Lannister’s Darkest HourMarlow Stern
April 21, 2014
Historical Examples
Christine was not over-intelligent, perhaps, but she was shrewd.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
One was an elderly savage, with a wrinkled, shrewd countenance.
The Leopard WomanStewart Edward White
England had been shrewd enough to guarantee them their domains and revenues.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Some of his sayings were shrewd and sharp; but he was sometimes aggressive.
Heroes of the TelegraphJ. Munro
Oh, shrewd people, Mr Clennam: evidently people of business!
Little DorritCharles Dickens
shrewd
- astute and penetrating, often with regard to business
- artful and craftya shrewd politician
- obsolete
- piercinga shrewd wind
- spiteful
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Word Origin
C14: from shrew (obsolete vb) to curse, from shrew
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for shrewd
adj.
c.1300, "wicked, evil," from shrewe "wicked man" (see shrew). Cf. crabbed from crab (n.), dogged from dog (n.), wicked from witch (n.). The sense of "cunning" is first recorded 1510s. Related: Shrewdly; shrewdness. Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England" (1801) has a shrewdness of apes for a company or group of them. Shrewdie "cunning person" is from 1916.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper