Perspicuous

WORD OF THE DAY

perspicuous \ per-SPIK-yuh-wus \ adjective

Definition

: plain to the understanding especially because of clarity and precision of presentation

Examples

The author's perspicuous prose helps even the simple layman to follow his explanations of this complicated topic.

"The whole is less than the sum of its parts and does not add up to either a perspicuous account or a judicious analysis." 

— Steven Marcus, The New York Times Book Review, 31 Mar. 1996

Did You Know?

Perspicuous is based on Latin perspicere, meaning "to see through," so that which is perspicuous is clear and understandable. Perspicuous has a close cousin, perspicacious, which is used of a person with astute insight. Both words come directly from Latin adjectives that mean the same thing they do: perspicuous from perspicuus, and perspicacious from perspicax. 

Needless to say, it's possible to confuse the two. One easy way to keep out of trouble is to think of perspicUous as the "U" word, and remember that it means "Understandable"—in contrast to the "A" word, perspicAcious, which means "Astute."