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Mettle vs Acumen - What's the difference?

mettle | acumen |

As nouns the difference between mettle and acumen

is that mettle is a quality of endurance and courage while acumen is quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination.

mettle

English

Noun

(-)
  • A quality of endurance and courage.
  • * 360 BCE , , Book VIII.
    • In the succeeding generation rulers will be appointed who have lost the guardian power of testing the metal of your different races, which, like Hesiod's, are of gold and silver and brass and iron.
  • * 1599 , '', act iv, scene 8 (''First Folio ed.)
    • By this Day and this Light, the fellow ha's mettell enough in his belly.
  • * 2001 , Harry J. Alexandrowicz, Testing your Mettle: Tough Problems and Real-world Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers , page xiii
    • Please read on and discover the issues in education that test the mettle of those who experience this world every day.
  • Good temperament and character.
  • * 1868 , , Bleak House
    • The arrival of this unexpected heir soon taking wind in the court, still makes good for the Sol, and keeps the court upon its mettle .
  • (obsolete) Metal; a metallic substance.
  • * 1837 , Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy , page 78
    • They have neither gold nor silver of their own, wine nor oyl, or scarce any corn growing in those United Provinces, little or no wood, tin, lead, iron, silk, wooll, any stuff almost, or mettle ; and yet Hungary, Transilvania, that brag of their mines, fertile England, cannot compare with them.

    Synonyms

    * (quality of endurance and courage) courage, heart, spirit

    Related terms

    * mettlesome

    acumen

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
  • *
    • No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen , I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor.
  • * 1991 ,
    • Hannibal Lecter: Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling? Enthrall me with your acumen .

    Synonyms

    * sharpness, penetration, keenness, shrewdness, acuteness, acuity, wit, foxiness, intelligence, canniness