wisdom
nouncommon in dialogue
- United States//ˈwɪzdəm//
An element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise.
noun
- 1
An element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise.
- 2
A piece of wise advice.
- 3
The discretionary use of knowledge for the greatest good.
- 4
The ability to apply relevant knowledge in an insightful way, especially to different situations from that in which the knowledge was gained.
- 5
The ability to make a decision based on the combination of knowledge, experience, and intuitive understanding.
- 6
The ability to know and apply spiritual truths.
- 7
rareA group of wombats.
It would also be difficult to get to the bottom line accurately if a wisdom of wombats ate your working papers. Both scenarios are equal in probability.
Beautimus strolled to the river for her morning bath. She looked one direction, then the other to search the landscape for anything or anybody who might offer a clue as to what could be coming her way. She passed a pond where a congregation of alligators and a wisdom of wombats engaged in a heated argument over economics. Nothing unusual in that.
Banyule means hill, another voice whispers from the swamp, and as I turn to ask a question I see kangaroos lying in the shade of a low tree by the shining water. Yes, the water has returned, along with giant earth-eating creatures boring holes far below, linking wisdoms of wombats with wastelands of Winthers.
- 8
rareA group of owls.
What he expected to find I cannot imagine , unless it was a wisdom of owls. What he did see and hear were telephones ringing, assistants answering them, getting up from their seats to take a book or a card from a file, returning[…]
All of us, whether we gather into a wisp of snipes, a wisdom of owls, a wing of plovers, or remain like a single regretful priest on his knees before his God, we are one and it is not for us to decide another's fate.
- 9
Variant of wisdom toothEllipsis of wisdom tooth.
HAVING MY WISDOMS REMOVED
Etymology
From Middle English wisdom, from Old English wīsdōm (“wisdom”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīsadōm, from Proto-Germanic *wīsadōmaz (“wisdom”), corresponding to wise + -dom. Cognate with Scots wisdom, wysdom (“wisdom”), West Frisian wiisdom (“wisdom”), Dutch wijsdom (“wisdom”), German Weistum (“legal sentence”), Danish/Norwegian/Swedish visdom (“wisdom”), Icelandic vísdómur (“wisdom”).
Forms
- plural
- wisdoms
wisdom · An element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise.
Wisdom · The Wisdom of Solomon, a book of the Catholic and Eastern…wise · Showing good judgement or the benefit of experience.Wise · A surname.