perceptiveness

Meaning

1. 1noununcountableapproving

   The quality of quickly noticing and understanding things that are not obvious, especially about people or situations.

   Grammar: Uncountable; no plural: her perceptiveness surprised us.

   Patterns

   • the perceptiveness of someone
   • perceptiveness about something

   The teacher's perceptiveness helped her spot a shy student who needed help.

   I admired his perceptiveness about people's moods.

   Good detectives show great perceptiveness when they study a scene.

Common combinations

remarkable perceptiveness

She noticed the mistake with remarkable perceptiveness.

show perceptiveness

The critic showed perceptiveness in his review.

emotional perceptiveness

Nurses often need emotional perceptiveness.

the perceptiveness of the question

I was struck by the perceptiveness of her question.

Synonyms and how they differ

insight

Insight is a single deep understanding, whereas perceptiveness is the ongoing ability to notice.

sharpness

Sharpness suggests quick thinking in general, not specifically noticing subtle details.

discernment

Discernment is more formal and stresses good judgment between things of different quality.

astuteness

Astuteness stresses practical cleverness, especially in business or politics.

Opposites

Word family

perceive verb

to notice or understand

perceptive adjective

quick to notice subtle things

perceptively adverb

in a way that shows sharp understanding

perception noun

the way you see or understand something

Commonly confused: perceptiveness or perception?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “perceptiveness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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