as in insight
the ability to understand inner qualities or relationships
the kind of sapience that comes from a lifetime of experience as an educator
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Recent Examples of sapience
Some people go the other way and say that sapience alone might be enough.
—
IEEE Spectrum, 23 Jan. 2025
Stories of such yearnings also illustrate a key requirement for sapience: resistance to oppression.
—Katherine Alejandra Cross, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2023
This seeming truth is said with a kind of sleepy sapience, as though only the naïve or the self-deluded would imagine anything otherwise.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2019
IEEE Spectrum, 23 Jan. 2025
Stories of such yearnings also illustrate a key requirement for sapience: resistance to oppression.
—Katherine Alejandra Cross, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2023
This seeming truth is said with a kind of sleepy sapience, as though only the naïve or the self-deluded would imagine anything otherwise.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sapience
Noun
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What stands out, in fact, is not Himelfarb’s illumination of the mechanics of chess but his insights regarding the psychologies of people.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
26 Apr. 2026
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Scientists have successfully revived a 24,000-year-old microscopic organism from Siberian permafrost, offering new insight into how life can endure extreme conditions over vast stretches of time.—
Brittany Miller,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Though an unabashedly liberal Democrat, Hart commanded respect from lawmakers of both parties for his intellect, decency and grit.—
John T. Shaw,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
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Propaganda was the art that conveyed—through emotions and even spirituality, not intellect—the all-encompassing ideology that ruled one’s life.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sapience.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sapience. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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