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presence of mind

noun
/ˌpɹɛzn̩s əv ˈmaɪnd/UK/ˌpɹɛz(ə)ns əv ˈmaɪnd/US

Etymology

PIE word *h₁ésmi Calque of Latin praesentia animī, from praesentia (“state of being present, presence”) + animī (the genitive singular of animus (“intellect, mind”)).

  1. derived from praesentia animī

Definitions

  1. Focused alertness, good sense, quick-thinking resourcefulness, or stability of feeling…

    Focused alertness, good sense, quick-thinking resourcefulness, or stability of feeling and thought, especially in spite of circumstances which are distracting, stressful, or otherwise challenging.

    • [A]s you are to hear the moſt unexpected and ſurprizing thing that perhaps ever befel any Family in the VVorld, I beg you to promiſe me you vvill receive it vvith Compoſure and a Preſence of Mind ſuitable to a Man of Senſe.
    • [T]his magnificent palace would have infallibly been burnt down to the ground, if, by a presence of mind unusual to me, I had not suddenly thought of an expedient.
    • [S]he snatched a pistol from the wall, on which some fire-arms hung, and while she screamed to her father to awake, had the presence of mind to present it at the intruder.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for presence of mind. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA