shrewdness

American  

[shrood-nis] / ˈʃrud nɪs /

noun

1. the quality of being astute or sharp in practical matters; the ability to find and pursue the most advantageous course of action, sometimes at the cost of moral compromise.

   He had the gift of storytelling, but not the ordinary shrewdness to convert the talent into a bankable asset.

   Michnik says that the marketplace frequently “chooses banality over excellence, shrewdness over nobility, empty promise over true competence.”

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Other Word Forms

• unshrewdness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of shrewdness

shrewd ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

And for decades, Ajit Pawar navigated it with a mixture of pragmatism and shrewdness, swiftly rising through the ranks.

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026

Anthropic’s business prospects—and the shrewdness of its main investors, Amazon and Google—may be more deserving of notice.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 26, 2025

Napoleon ascends through shrewdness and dumb luck, taking advantage of anti-royalist sentiment one minute and crowning himself emperor the next.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2023

One welcome shift from past cinematic renderings is screenwriters Peres Owino's and NneNne Iwuji's emphasis on Cleopatra's shrewdness as a political and military strategist, traits often subsumed by her legend as a seductress.

From Salon • May 11, 2023

Dasch detected a shrewdness in Haupt, and street smarts.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

Related Words

• acumen
• sharpness