Definition of: wisdom

(wiz′dəm) noun
1. The power of true and right discernment; conformity to the course of action dictated by such discernment.
2. Good practical judgment; common sense.
3. A high degree of knowledge; learning.
4. A wise saying. [OE wīsdōm <wīs wise] Synonyms: attainment, depth, discernment, discretion, enlightenment, erudition, foresight, information, insight, judgment, judiciousness, knowledge, learning, lore, prescience, profoundity, prudence, reason, reasonableness, sagacity, sense, skill, understanding. Enlightenment, erudition, information, knowledge, learning, and skill are acquired, as by study or practice. Insight, judgment, profundity or depth, reason, sagacity, sense, and understanding are native qualities of mind, but are capable of increase by cultivation. Wisdom is mental power acting upon the materials that fullest knowledge gives in the most effective way. There may be what is termed “practical wisdom” that looks only to material results; but in its full sense wisdom implies the highest exercise of all the faculties. Prudence is a more negative form of the same virtue and largely with a view of avoiding loss and injury. Judgment, the power of forming decisions, is broader and more positive than prudence, leading one to do, as readily as to refrain from doing; but judgment is more limited in range and less exalted in character than wisdom. Skill is far inferior to wisdom, consisting largely in the practical application of acquired knowledge, power, and habitual processes, or in the ingenious contrivance that makes such application possible. In the making of something perfectly useless there may be great skill, but no wisdom. Compare KNOWLEDGE, PRUDENCE. Antonyms: absurdity, error, fatuity, folly, foolishness, idiocy, imbecility, imprudence, indiscretion, miscalculation, misjudgment, nonsense, shallowness, silliness, stupidity.