Word.ws English Dictionary

shrewde

shrewde is the obsolete spelling of shrewd.

Meaning of shrewd

Adjective

shrewd (comparative shrewder, superlative shrewdest)

  1. Showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.
  2. Artful, tricky or cunning.
  3. (informal) streetwise, street-smart.
    • Willie is very aware of this fact and lets Johnny Attell know that there is a fly in the ointment, and Johnny, who is a very shrewd article, has his chauffeur drive him to Bradford Street so he can change the kid's mind.2003, Ron Ross, Bummy Davis vs. Murder, Inc, page 287
  4. Knowledgeable, intelligent, keen.
    • The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. 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...2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph
  5. Nigh accurate.
    • a shrewd guess
  6. Severe, intense, hard.
    • a shrewd blow, or assault

See all 12 meanings of shrewd

Forms of shrewde

comparativeshrewder
superlativeshrewdest

Questions about shrewde

What is shrewde the obsolete spelling of?
Shrewde is the obsolete spelling of shrewd.

Words near shrewde in the dictionary

  1. shrew-faced squirrel
  2. shrew-faced squirrels
  3. shreward
  4. shrewards
  5. shrewd
  6. shrewde
  7. shrewder
  8. shrewdest
  9. shrewdie
  10. shrewdies
  11. shrewdish

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shrewde (page history and authors); shrewd (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “shrewde.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shrewde. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.