wisdom

plural wisdoms · alternative obsolete wisedome · alternative wisdome

1. uncountableAn element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise.
2. countableA piece of wise advice.
3. countableuncountableThe discretionary use of knowledge for the greatest good.
4. countableuncountableThe ability to apply relevant knowledge in an insightful way, especially to different situations from that in which the knowledge was gained.
5. countableuncountableThe ability to make a decision based on the combination of knowledge, experience, and intuitive understanding.
6. countableuncountablelifestyleThe ability to know and apply spiritual truths.

   1 more example

   Wiſdom…is to a man an infinite Treaſure, for ſhe is the Breath of the Power of God, and a pure Influence that floweth from the Glory of the Almighty; ſhe is the Brightneſs of Eternal Light, and an undefiled Mirror of the Majeſty of God, and an Image of his Goodneſs; ſhe teacheth us Soberneſs and Prudence, Righteouſneſs and Strength; ſhe underſtands the Subtilty of words, and Solution of dark ſentences; ſhe foreknoweth Signs and Wonders, and what ſhall happen in time to come.

   1652, Eugenius Philalethes, The Fame and Confeſſion of the Fraternity of…the Roſie Croſs, pages 1-2 of the preface

7. countablerareuncountableA group of wombats.

   It would also be difficult to get to the bottom line accurately if a wisdom of wombats ate your working papers. Both scenarios are equal in probability.

   2007 April 16, Tony Cooper, “Ebay is Unfair!”, in rec.collecting.coins (Usenet), retrieved 05 Sep 2022

   2 more examples

   Beautimus strolled to the river for her morning bath. She looked one direction, then the other to search the landscape for anything or anybody who might offer a clue as to what could be coming her way. She passed a pond where a congregation of alligators and a wisdom of wombats engaged in a heated argument over economics. Nothing unusual in that.

   2017, Peggy A. Wheeler, The Splendid and Extraordinary Life of Beautimus Potamus

   Banyule means hill, another voice whispers from the swamp, and as I turn to ask a question I see kangaroos lying in the shade of a low tree by the shining water. Yes, the water has returned, along with giant earth-eating creatures boring holes far below, linking wisdoms of wombats with wastelands of Winthers.

   2020, Graham Jackson, The7th Victim, page 160

8. countablerareuncountableA group of owls.

   All of us, whether we gather into a wisp of snipes, a wisdom of owls, a wing of plovers, or remain like a single regretful priest on his knees before his God, we are one and it is not for us to decide another's fate.

   2016, Gary Barwin, Yiddish for Pirates: A Novel, →ISBN, page 91

   1 more example

   What he expected to find I cannot imagine , unless it was a wisdom of owls. What he did see and hear were telephones ringing, assistants answering them, getting up from their seats to take a book or a card from a file, returning[…]

   1974, Margery Weiner, Answering Any Questions: How to Set Up an Information Office, Newton Abbot : David and Charles [for] the "Daily Telegraph"

   Synonyms: parliament

9. abbreviationcolloquialcountableellipsisEllipsis of wisdom tooth.

   HAVING MY WISDOMS REMOVED

   2003, Harry Gilleland, Poetry for the Common Man, page 149

1. biblicalThe Wisdom of Solomon, a book of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canon of the Old Testament, considered apocryphal by Protestants.