Legere

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. To select or pick out from a number of options; to gather or collect information, items, or people; to read or interpret written text
2. To choose deliberately among alternatives; to accumulate or assemble objects or data; to comprehend or decode characters and symbols in texts
3. To make a careful choice from several possibilities; to accrue or bring together elements or individuals; to mentally process and understand written or printed materials

Etymology: The Latin verb "legere" meant to gather, pick up, or pick out, and the sense of choosing is its oldest core. Its descendants in English carry that choosing sense: "select" comes from "seligere," "to pick out from," and "elect" from "eligere," "to pick out." "Diligent" is also built on it: "diligere" combined "dis-" with "legere" and meant to value or single out, and the idea of careful attention later became the diligence we know today. The "read" sense of "legere" came later in Latin, but it is still a descendant of the gathering sense. In English, "legere" itself is not an established adjective meaning "chosen with care." If you need that sense, "select" or "diligent" fits the idea more closely.

Synonyms: light, nimble, quick, agile

Antonyms: heavy, clumsy, slow