shrewd
- 1Showing cleverness and resourcefulness in the way one handles practical matters.
Locking in the lease before rents climbed was a shrewd move by the restaurant's owners.
One of the shrewdest farmers in the county, he sold half his crop early while prices were high.
Similarastute, canny, smart, clever, wise
Oppositefoolish, naive, unwise, stupid
Note
The approving sense, and a long way from where the word began: Middle English schrewed meant “depraved, wicked,” literally “accursed,” and it goes back to Old English sċrēawa, “wicked person.” Shrewd is at bottom shrew plus -ed. Today it compliments practical judgment, as in a shrewd move or a shrewd farmer, and it compares with endings: shrewder, shrewdest.
- 2Clever in a sly or crafty way that relies on tricks and deception.
The shrewd salesman buried the car's rust problem under a stream of compliments and small talk.
The swindlers were shrewd, posing as bank inspectors to talk retirees out of their savings.
Similarcrafty, cunning, wily, sly, artful
Oppositenaive, guileless, honest
Note
Nothing in the word itself separates this sense from the approving one: a shrewd dealer may be admired or distrusted, and only the context decides. Talk of tricks, deception or swindles nearby tips it toward cunning; results fairly won keep it on the side of praise. If the doubt matters, artful or cunning says it outright.
- 3Intelligent and knowledgeable, with a keen, perceptive mind.
The young midfielder is a shrewd reader of the game, always seeing the pass before the defense does.
She is one of the shrewdest observers of Washington politics writing today.
Similarastute, perceptive, sharp, keen, discerning
- 4Nearly accurate, coming close to the true answer or figure.
The reporter's shrewd estimate of the crowd at forty thousand was within a few hundred of the official count.
I had a shrewd idea of what the house would sell for, and the final offer came within a few thousand dollars.
Similargood, fair, close, accurate
Oppositeinaccurate
Note
Here the word describes the guess rather than the guesser, and nothing sly is implied: a shrewd guess or estimate is praised for how close it comes. To have a shrewd idea of something is to have a fair notion of it, short of certainty. A guess earns the adjective from the mind behind it, so this sense blurs easily into the “perceptive” sense.
- 5Having the experience and quick wits needed to get by in tough city surroundings.
Rosa's a shrewd cookie. Nobody on the block ever sold her a hot phone.
You've got to be shrewd to drive a cab in this town, or the riders who skip out on fares will eat you alive.
Similarstreetwise, savvy, smart, sharp, canny
Oppositenaive, gullible, green
Note
The street-smart sense pairs naturally with slangy nouns for a person: in Ron Ross's Bummy Davis vs. Murder, Inc (2003), Johnny Attell is “a very shrewd article,” and a shrewd cookie belongs to the same family. It is casual praise for someone who is hard to fool, which keeps it apart from the “knowledgeable” sense: book learning has nothing to do with it.
- 6Severe and intense in force, hitting hard as a heavy blow or a fierce attack does.
The flood dealt a shrewd blow to the shops along Main Street, and several never reopened.
The horse lashed out and gave the stable hand a shrewd kick on the thigh.
Similarhard, heavy, severe, powerful, fierce
Note
What it measures is force: a shrewd blow, a shrewd assault, the shrewd kick of a horse. A modern reader may hear the approving sense and picture a well-aimed blow, but judgment has nothing to do with it. Context usually settles the matter: a flood or a horse cannot be clever, so a shrewd blow from either can only be a hard one.
- 7Sharp and piercing, cutting through one the way a bitter wind does.
A shrewd north wind came off the prairie and found every gap in our coats.
The frost that morning had a shrewd bite that made our fingers ache through our gloves.
Similarbiting, bitter, piercing, sharp, keen
Note
Wind and frost take it in this sense: a shrewd wind, a frost with a shrewd bite. The image suits the word's ancestry, since Old English sċrēawa meant literally “biter,” and a shrewd wind is one that bites. The same cutting edge turns up in the sharp-tongued sense, where it is heard in words rather than felt on the skin.
- 8Bad or evil in nature, and threatening harm or trouble.
They came through shrewd years of drought and debt together.
The rider brought shrewd news from the border, and by nightfall the whole town was barring its doors.
Note
The darkest of the word's meanings stays closest to its “accursed” origins. In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, watching a paper steal the color from Bassanio's cheek, Portia decides there are “some shrewd contents” in it: some dear friend must be dead. Shrewd contents are dreadful news, not clever ones. Today the sense survives as period color and belongs in writing that is deliberately old-fashioned.
- 9Harmful or injurious, apt to do someone real damage or mischief.
Whoever cut the fence did the Hendersons a shrewd turn: by morning their cattle were wandering the highway.
The rumor her rivals spread did the young widow a shrewd turn from which her shop never recovered.
Note
The phrase to know is to do someone a shrewd turn: to do them real harm. John Aubrey, in Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (1687), tells of people sweeping the hearth clean to please the fairies, “that they might doe them no shrewd turnes.” Mischief here carries its old weight: what the fairies might do was injury, not a prank.
- 10Sharp in speech, given to scolding others or mocking them with satire.
She had a shrewd tongue, and few of her neighbors escaped it for long.
Leonato: By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.
1598, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”Note
The tongue is where this sense lives: in Shakespeare's Much Adoe about Nothing, Leonato tells his niece she will never get a husband “if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.” The construction matches quick of foot or hard of hearing, naming where the quality shows. Satire carries the sense from speech into print, so a shrewd pamphlet can sting like a shrewd tongue.
- 11Abusive and ill-tempered, with the nagging, insulting manner of a shrew.
Note
For a nagging, abusive temper today, the word to use is shrewish, because shrewd no longer carries this meaning. In its day the meaning stood close to the scolding meaning, with a difference of scope: scolding and satire are things a tongue does, while abuse here takes in a whole manner, the temper behind the words.
- 12Foreshadowing what is to come, in the way an omen or a sign does.
Note
This meaning has dropped out of use entirely, and in older writing it is hard to tell apart from the “threatening” meaning. The distinction is one of direction: a threat bears down on someone, while a portent points ahead to what is coming. For the idea in modern prose, boding or portending says it plainly.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of shrewd apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English schrewed ("depraved, wicked," literally "accursed"), from schrewen ("to curse"), from schrewe ("evil or wicked person or thing"), ultimately from Old English sċrēawa ("wicked person," literally "biter"); it is equivalent to shrew + -ed. The sense "cunning" developed in the early 16th century and gradually took on a positive connotation by the 17th century.