Savvy Meaning
/ˈsæv.i/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjShrewd, well-informed and perceptive.
verbTo understand.
Sentence Examples
You're one savvy negotiator.
Tom is savvy, isn't he?
Successful fascists today are savvy enough not to call themselves fascists.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Having studied the market for years, the ____ investor avoided common financial traps.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ investor recognized the opportunity before anyone else and acted quickly.
Word Origin & History
Alteration of save, sabi (“to know”) (in English-based creoles and pidgins), from Portuguese sabe (“[she/he] knows”), from saber (“to know”), from Latin sapere (“to taste; to know”). First appears c. 1785 in a dictionary by Francis Grose, as a noun, “practical sense, intelligence”; also a verb, “to know, to understand”. The adjective is first recorded 1905, from the noun.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations."
— 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2012:
"He's probably a perfect technician as a surgeon, but he knows you get only what you grab. Think of the years it's taken me to learn what he savvied all the time!"
— 1925, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXIV, in Arrowsmith, Harcourt Brace & Co., page 280:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Having studied the market for years, the ____ investor avoided common financial traps.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ investor recognized the opportunity before anyone else and acted quickly.