Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shrewd in a sentence

28 example sentences · adjective

Shrewd means showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters. Example: “He's a shrewd businessman: there's no green in his eye.”

Examples of shrewd by meaning

adjectiveKnowledgeable, intelligent, keen.

  • His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph

adjectiveNigh accurate.

  • a shrewd guess

adjectiveSevere, intense, hard.

  • a shrewd blow, or assault

adjectiveSharp, snithy, piercing.

  • a shrewd wind

More sentences with shrewd

  • He's a shrewd businessman: there's no green in his eye.From the entry green in one's eye
  • His shrewd little eyes twinkled roguishly.From the entry twinkle
  • They determine the political course of their respective regions through shrewd negotiation.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: Culture Codex entry. From the entry kingpin
  • Shrewd chap, you thought; resourceful; not above a bit of larceny.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy. From the entry larceny
  • And you get a lesson in turkey behavior by hound-dogging the footsteps of these shrewd giants.1978, Dennis Walrod, “Stalking The Monster Birds”, in Field & Stream, volume 83, number 6, page 158. From the entry hound-dog
  • I thought it would be a shrewd move to salt the mine." I didn't get this.1954, P.G. Wodehouse, Bertie Wooster Sees It Through, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 86. From the entry salt the mine
  • The mother of all women had to be a cat, a little, wizened, sad-faced, shrewd, ring-tailed cat.1915 June, Jack London, “The Little Lady of the Big House”, in Cosmopolitan, volume 59, number 1, page 49. From the entry ring-tailed cat
  • As Rajneeshism exploded across the world, a team of shrewd lawyers working for Oregon's attorney general was paying close attention.2022 March 8, Russell King, Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia, Chicago Review Press, →ISBN. From the entry Rajneeshism
  • Swing was a shrewd politician and an effective lobbier.2014, Joseph E. Stevens, Hoover Dam: An American Adventure. From the entry lobbier
  • The bangals have been stereotyped as shrewd, opportunistic, greedy, parochial, and considered good enough only to become cooks or sweet-makers.2005, The Indian Journal of Social Work, Mumbai: Department of Publications, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11. From the entry ghoti
  • He's older and more discreet— like the shrewd brace of blackbirds that waits for ricecrackers to drop from the tea pavilion.1991, Charles Atkinson, The only cure I know, page 44. From the entry ricecracker
  • The shrewd eyes, more hazel than her son’s but with the same straight brows, were fixed on Clary’s face.1986, Robyn Donald, chapter 4, in A Willing Surrender, London: Mills & Boon Limited, →ISBN, page 81. From the entry hazel
  • A good liner has a pretty shrewd idea of the value of the painting he is treating and usually charges accordingly.1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 41. From the entry liner
  • The High Masters were as shrewd floggers as any.1964, Donald Lemen Clark, John Milton at St. Paul's School. From the entry flogger
  • Francis Thompson, a shrewd observer of his age, noted and shuddered at the growing popularity of the new goddess, Gelasma.1950, Philip Hughes, edited by George Andrew Beck, The English Catholics, 1850-1950. From the entry gelasma
  • Robinson of Arkansas, the bull-voiced, heavy-fisted field commander; Pat Harrison of Mississippi, the shrewd committee and cloakroom horsetrader; and James F.1937 February 22, “Judiciary: Visibility Poor”, in Time. From the entry horsetrader
  • In default of others, I am myself my own spectator and self-appreciator―critical, discerning, vigilant, fond!—my own stupid Boswell, shrewd if silly.1919 March 31, W[ilhelm] N[ero] P[ilate] Barbellion [pseudonym; Bruce Frederick Cummings], “[1915] March 4”, in The Journal of a…. From the entry appreciator
  • She performed a pirouette and then bowed elaborately while flashing the group a big grin that was accompanied with a shrewd expression on her face.2019 December 21, WorldWeaver, Radley, “Alabastor: Age of Heroes”, in rpnation.com. From the entry archgrandmaster
  • The shrewdest questions that we can ask about them are perhaps falsely shaped, being but flutterings of the still unfledged human mentality.1946, Olaf Stapledon, “The Spirit of Man Considers His Plight”, in Death into Life, [Glasgow?]: Good Press, published 2022, →OCLC. From the entry unfledged
  • It was the face of a man uninstructed in mercy; it was a shrewd and planning face: alert, resourceful, elaborately perceptive, and flawlessly hard.1913, Booth Tarkington, chapter 13, in The Flirt, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 212. From the entry dissimulate
  • But originality in war does, and slave- owning nations, having time to think, are likely to be more shrewd in policy, and more crafty in strategy.2010, Walter Bagehot, Physics and Politics, →ISBN, page 73. From the entry after-cost
  • The best response to this line of thinking was by the shrewd Internet commentatrix Megan McArdle: “They’re completely missing the point, which is that it’s hilarious.”2002 April 25, Mark Steyn, “The Eurosnots learn nothing”, in National Post, volume 4, number 152, page A22. From the entry commentatrix
  • With flame, claw, and spell it—no, she, they said—smote the most valiant knights and the shrewdest battlemasters, sniffing out war wizards whatever their disguise and rending them to pieces.2000, Troy Denning, Ed Greenwood, Death of the Dragon (The Cormyr Saga; III), Wizards of the Coast, published 2001, →ISBN, page 319. From the entry battlemaster
  • "I thought," Graeme burred at him, transfixing him with shrewd eyes, "that you were cavaliering the Italian girl, Beatrice Cenci or Vittoria Colonna or whatever her name is?"1916, Good Housekeeping, volume 64, page 113. From the entry cavalier

Meaning of shrewd

  1. adjective Showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.
  2. adjective Artful, tricky or cunning.
  3. adjective Streetwise, street-smart.

Full definition of shrewd

Questions about shrewd in a sentence

How do you use shrewd in a sentence?
Shrewd is used as an adjective. For example: “He's a shrewd businessman: there's no green in his eye.”
What is a short sentence with shrewd?
“a shrewd guess”
What does shrewd mean?
Shrewd means showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shrewd (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use shrewd in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shrewd. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.