gumption
/ˈɡʌmpʃən/ noun
Forms gumptions
- noun (UK, Ireland) Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.
- noun (US) Boldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative.
- noun (US) Energy of body and mind, enthusiasm.
Synonyms
gumph chutzpah gump guts spunk common sense good sense horse sense sense mother wit backbone grit moxie sand
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō. English cognates include gaum (“to comprehend, understand”) and goam (“to recognize, see”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Capacity; shrewdness; common sense. [Colloq.]
- noun (a) The art of preparing colors. Sir W. Scott.
Etymology [OE. gom, gome, attention; akin to AS. geómian, gyman, to regard, observe, gyme care, OS. gomean to heed, Goth. gaumjan to see, notice.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gumption”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details