the.com/discretion
the art of knowing what to do while pretending you never thought twice.
means the freedom or judgment to decide something for yourself, especially the good sense to act carefully and keep quiet about what should stay private.
from From Latin discretio, 'a separating, distinguishing,' built on discernere — to separate, to sift apart (dis-, 'apart,' + cernere, 'to sieve or distinguish'). The root idea is the act of telling one thing from another, and over time that sifting of options shaded into the prudence of choosing well. It reached English in the Middle Ages through Old French discrecion, carrying both senses we still keep: the power to decide ('at your discretion') and the tact to know what's better left unsaid.
- legal power
- Judges and prosecutors wield it to bend strict rules
- better part
- Falstaff called it the better part of valor
- age threshold
- Common law sets it around age seven
- root meaning
- From Latin for separating and distinguishing things
swiss banking secrecy — swiss banks kept client identities confidential for centuries until ubs scandal of 2008
doctor patient confidentiality — physicians legally cannot disclose patient information without consent under hipaa since 1996
judicial discretion sentencing — us judges have wide latitude to set sentences within legal ranges for the same crime