different between sagacity vs greatness

English

Etymology

sagac(ious) +? -ity, from French sagacité, from Latin sag?cit?s (“sagaciousness”), from sag?x (“of quick perception, acute, sagacious”), from s?gi? (“I perceive by the senses”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???æs?ti/, /s???æs?ti/

Noun

sagacity (usually uncountable, plural sagacities)

1. (obsolete) Keen sense of smell.
   • 1607, Edward Topsell, The History of Four-footed Beasts, Serpents, and Insects, London: G. Sawbridge et al., 1658, p. 352,^[1]

     […] this Beast [the Ichneumon] is not only enemy to the Crocodile and Asp, but also to their Egs, which she hunteth out by the sagacity of her nose, and so destroyeth them […]

2. The quality of being sage, wise, or able to make good decisions; the quality of being perceptive, astute or insightful.
   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Volume 3, Chapter 15,^[2]

     Young ladies have great penetration in such matters as these; but I think I may defy even your sagacity, to discover the name of your admirer.

   • 1904, M. P. Shiel, The Evil That Men Do, London: Ward, Lock & Co., Chapter ,^[3]

     Immediately after the meal, when he was alone again, he set to work to examine Drayton’s papers, of which there lay quite a mass on the table near him and, leaning toward the lamp on his elbow, he weighed the meaning of each with a certain sideward sagacity of gaze, a sagacity that smiled in its self-sureness.

     Swiss Family Robinson- "....near the mouth of a creek, towards which all our geese and ducks betook themselves; and I, relying on their sagacity, followed in the same course."

   Synonyms: sagaciousness, wisdom

Related terms

• sagacious

Translations

Further reading

• sagacity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sagacity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• sagacity at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From Middle English gretnesse, gretnes, greetnesse, from Old English gr?atnes. Equivalent to great +? -ness.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gr?t?n?s, IPA^(key): /???e?tn?s/
• Hyphenation: great?ness

Noun

greatness (countable and uncountable, plural greatnesses)

1. The state, condition, or quality of being great

   Due to the greatness of his size, he was an effective bodyguard.

   greatness of mind

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night ACt 3 Scene 4

     Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
2. (obsolete): Pride; haughtiness.
   • 1627, Francis Bacon, New Atlantis

     It is not of pride or greatness that he cometh not aboard your ships.

Translations

See also

• magnum opus
• genius

Anagrams

• Tressange, estranges, seargents, sergeants