ASTUTE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does astute mean? 

• ASTUTE (adjective)
  The adjective ASTUTE has 1 sense:

1. marked by practical hardheaded intelligence

  Familiarity information: ASTUTE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASTUTE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by practical hardheaded intelligence

Synonyms:

astute; sharp; shrewd

Context example:

he was too shrewd to go along with them on a road that could lead only to their overthrow

Similar:

smart (showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness)

Derivation:

astuteness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

 Context examples 

It shows, my dear Watson, that we are dealing with an exceptionally astute and dangerous man.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It struck me that so astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate tendon-nicking without a little practice.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet the creature was astute; mastered his fury with a great effort of the will; composed his two important letters, one to Lanyon and one to Poole; and that he might receive actual evidence of their being posted, sent them out with directions that they should be registered.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It was a delicate part which I had to play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hands were tied in the matter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And all the time this quiet country house of yours is the centre of half the mischief in England, and the sporting squire the most astute secret-service man in Europe.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Could I fancy that your astute judgment would pass a dying man who, however weak, had no rise of pulse or temperature?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)