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wisdom

noun

Simple meaning

Ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wizduhm

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwɪzdəm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight

  2. The ability to make a decision based on the combination of knowledge, experience, and intuitive understanding.

  3. uncountable

    An element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise.

  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 discretionary use of knowledge for the greatest good.

  6. Accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight

Used this way, wisdom is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Gentle
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Positive and appreciative
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use wisdom

  • “My grandmother always shared her wisdom and valuable life lessons with us.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

conventional wisdomwisdom literaturedivine wisdompractical wisdomhuman wisdominfinite wisdomgreat wisdom

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • wisdom booknounCompound term

    Any of the biblical books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus) that are considered to contain wisdom.

  • wisdom literaturenounCompound term

    Any of the biblical books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus) that are considered to contain wisdom.

  • wisdom of jesus the son of sirachnounCompound term

    An Apocryphal book mainly of maxims (resembling Proverbs in that respect).

  • wisdom of solomonnounCompound term

    An Apocryphal book consisting mainly of a meditation on wisdom.

  • wisdom toothnounCompound term

    Any of the last 4 teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaw.

  • god's wisdomnounCompound term

    The omniscience of a divine being.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.