Wis'dōm, n.
n. [A-S. wīsdom, from wīs, wise, and the termination dōm, from dōm, doom, judgment, power, Dan. viisdom, visdom, Sw. visdom, Icel. visdōmr, Ger. weisheit.]
Sense 1. The quality of being wise; knowledge, and the capacity to make due use of it; knowledge of the best ends and the best means; discernment and judgment; discretion; sagacity; skill; dexterity.
It is hoped that our rulers will act with dignity and wisdom; that they will yield every thing to reason, and refuse every thing to force. Ames.
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom. Coleridge.
Wisdom gained by experience is of inestimable value. Scott.
Sense 2. The results of wise judgments; scientific or practical truth; acquired knowledge; erudition.
Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Acts vii. 22.
Sense 3. (Script.) Right judgment and feelings concerning religious and moral truth; godliness; piety; religion.
Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. Job xxviii. 28.
Synonyms— Prudence; knowledge. — WISDOM, PRUDENCE, KNOWLEDGE. Wisdom has been defined to be “the use of the best means for attaining the best ends.” “We conceive,” says Whewell, “prudence as the virtue by which we select right means for given ends, while wisdom implies the selection of right ends as well as of right means.” Hence, wisdom implies the union of high mental and moral excellence. Prudence (that is, providence, or forecast) is of a more negative character: it rather consists in avoiding danger than in taking decisive measures for the accomplishment of an object. Sir Robert Walpole was in many respects a prudent statesman, but he was far from being a wise one. Burke has remarked that prudence, when carried too far, degenerates into a “reptile virtue,” which is the more dangerous for the plausible appearance it wears. Knowledge, a more comprehensive term, signifies the simple apprehension of facts or relations. “In strictness of language,” says Paley, “there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom; wisdom always supposing action, and action directed by it.”
Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have oft-times no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. Cowper.