It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 9th.
Today's word is Acumen, spelled A-C-U-M-E-N.
Acumen is a noun.
It refers to keenness and depth of perception discernment or discrimination.
In other words, the ability to think clearly and make good decisions,
especially in practical matters.
Here's the word used, in a sentence from Scientific American.
Industrial agriculture's hidden costs are precisely the ones agriculture makes explicit.
Its pathways reward the acumen of those on the front lines,
support the livelihoods of the poor, and protect the biodiversity of the planet.
A keen mind and a sharp wit can pierce confusion as easily as a needle passes through cloth,
Remember this analogy between a jabbing needle and piercing perception,
and you will readily recall the history of the word acumen.
The English word retains the spelling and figurative meaning of its direct Latin ancestor,
acumen, which literally means sharp point.
That word comes in turn from the Latin acuere,
a verb meaning to sharpen that is related to acus, the Latin word for needle.
Accu-ere puts the accu or acu in a number of English words, including acute, acuity, and acumenate.
In its earliest English uses, acumen referred specifically to a sharpness of wit.
In modern English,