Literary notes about perspicacious (AI summary)
In literature, “perspicacious” is employed to characterize characters with acute insight and refined discernment. Authors use the term to convey not only sharp observational skills—highlighting, for instance, a character’s ability to detect concealed truths with pitiless, penetrating eyes [1]—but also to imply a broader intellectual capability, as seen in portrayals of judges and critics who perceive nuances that others might miss [2, 3]. Whether describing someone capable of interpreting complex social cues or one whose gaze cuts through pretense, the adjective enriches the narrative by casting characters in roles marked by an almost intuitive understanding of their world [4, 5]. This versatile usage underscores the lasting appeal of keen perception as a literary attribute.
- These things were not generally seen in her; I was more favored than many; and I looked at her with pitiless perspicacious eyes.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various - They being less perspicacious than the judge, hesitated for a while, but finally complied.
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851 by Various - Nothing of the sort can ever happen with Hamlet: how could he, with his perspicacious, refined, sceptical mind, ever commit such a mistake!
— from Mother Earth, Vol. 1 No. 1, March 1906 by Various - [8] The more real and oppressive the fit of fear the more enjoyable is the subsequent self-deliverance by a perspicacious laugh likely to be.
— from Children's Ways Being selections from the author’s "Studies of childhood," with some additional matter by James Sully - "The Comptroller is perspicacious," said the old man, agreeably, waving one hand in a casual manner.
— from No Shield from the Dead by Gordon R. Dickson
