Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 11 down vote favorite
4

I am trying to complete the following sentence:

This job requires both creativity and X

Where X is a single word describing the ability to think analytically. What would the best word be?

share|improve this question
2  
This job requires both creativity and analytical thinking is the best I can come up with. – Marthaª Mar 16 '11 at 21:40
Are you paying by the word? Drop "both" and you'll get an extra word for free. (If this is for a crossword puzzle or for a question on that weird English stackexchange site, never mind.) – jbelacqua Mar 17 '11 at 4:39

10 Answers

up vote 16 down vote accepted

Here's something fancy to impress the ladies: perspicacity.

As in:

"Nathan Rothschild was a man of keen perspicacity and profited immensely from his shrewd decision to employ a courier at the Battle of Waterloo, which lead to his eventually becoming the wealthiest man in all of Britain."

From Wikitionary:

perspicacity (n.)
1. Acute discernment or understanding; insight.
2. The human faculty or power to mentally grasp or understand clearly.
3. (obsolete) Keen eyesight.  

share|improve this answer
4  
"The human faculty or power to mentally grasp or understand clearly." - perfect! The ladies will be impressed... – fbrereto Mar 16 '11 at 22:47
You are very perspicacious for bringing this up. – advs89 Mar 17 '11 at 0:16
5  
It's a good word, but for me it sounds stilted in this context. – jbelacqua Mar 17 '11 at 2:11
1  
Perspicacity is meant to connote the handling of fidgety things with the mind. It is strongly akin to dexterity which makes it a wonderful word for general use, but not one that foils against "creativity" in the way the poster intended. For that reason, I agree with the stiltedness comment above. – Andre Stechert Mar 18 '11 at 2:47
1  
@Billaire -- oh, I think you absolutely have the same sense of it I do. My extra comment was more as a caveat to people reading your answer who might think of using the word without really getting the sense of what using the fancy word might be heard as, tone-wise. – jbelacqua Mar 18 '11 at 17:12
show 6 more comments
up vote 7 down vote

You could use exactitude, thoroughness, precision, or rigor if you mean thinking in the mathematical sense of "analytical thinking".

You could use acumen, discernment, or shrewdness if you mean "analytical thinking" in the sense of "critical thinking".

I personally like shrewdness because of the connotation of "good business sense":

This job requires both creativity and shrewdness.

share|improve this answer
3  
To me, shrewdness has a negative connotation. It does mean good business sense, but also a bit underhanded and sneaky. I like the other options you've suggested though, so +1 for those. – Nathan MacInnes Mar 17 '11 at 11:08
up vote 4 down vote

How about thoroughness, rigor, logic or method? All describe the need for logical thinking, which is probably the main component of analytical thinking.

share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

"Analyticality" fits the bill. (Whether or not it sounds good to many is another question.)

As suggested earlier by @F'x, "rigor" is pretty good, and it plays off of and creates a nice tension with "creativity" .

It suggests rather than capturing whole "the ability to think analytically," so there is conceivably some ambiguity there. But personally I think any ambiguity there is appropriately resolvable by anyone with creativity and the ability to think analytically.

share|improve this answer
+1 I see what you did there. – fbrereto Mar 17 '11 at 5:51
up vote 1 down vote

Some offerings:

  • Cogitation
  • Analysis
  • Ratiocination
  • Brainwork
share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

Logic .....no how hard was that?

share|improve this answer
1  
Probably harder than proofreading your comment for typos. – MrHen Mar 18 '11 at 19:06
up vote 0 down vote

Often by thinking more specifically about what kind of analytic thinking you really want, you'll realize there is a better word than any of us could tell you without knowing your specific situation. (Although, "perspicacity" and "logic" are good generic suggestions.)

"Properly", analysis means breaking apart ideas. But due to uncareful usage, it's become synonymous with:

  • math
  • spreadsheets
  • computers
  • clear thinking

and many other things. Do you really want to hire someone with the ability to break things apart? Or do you want someone smart? Oder...?

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

"Thoughtfulness", though simple, is meaningful and evocative.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Smart.

[Brevity is the soul of wit, but 30 characters is the SE minimum.]

share|improve this answer
This is really a comment, not an answer to the question. Please use "add comment" to leave feedback for the author. – Matt Эллен Aug 22 '12 at 9:05
@MattЭллен -- it wasn't intended as comment, just an ordinary answer. – Malvolio Aug 22 '12 at 17:20
Well it's not particularly good then, is it? – Matt Эллен Aug 22 '12 at 17:21
@MattЭллен -- People lacking the ability to think analytically might think so. – Malvolio Aug 22 '12 at 20:16
up vote -1 down vote

The term now used is 'analytical ability'. Probably because there is no way you can take chances with what is intended being lost in linguistics or semantics. May the candidate be saved from, well, overuse of his analytical skills.

share|improve this answer
@Martha -while 'ability to think analytically' may be understandable, 'analytical thinking' sounds like an oxymoron. (I know the phrase is anyway used widely). – Kris Nov 10 '11 at 7:54

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.