Meaning of INGENIOUS
| Pronunciation: | | in'jeenyus
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | |
- [adj] showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem"
- [adj] skillful (or showing skill) in adapting means to ends; "cool prudence and sensitive selfishness along with quick perception of what is possible--these distinguish an adroit politician"; "came up with a clever story"; "an ingenious press agent"; "an ingenious scheme"
- [adj] (used of persons or artifacts) marked by independence and creativity in thought or action; "an imaginative use of material"; "the invention of the knitting frame by another ingenious English clergyman"- Lewis Mumford; "an ingenious device"; "had an inventive turn of mind"; "inventive ceramics"
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| | Synonyms: | | adroit, artful, clever, creative, cunning, imaginative, inventive, originative |
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| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | \In*gen"ious\, a. [L. ingeniosus, fr. ingenium innate
or natural quality, natural capacity, genius: cf. F.
ing['e]nieux. See {Engine}.]
1. Possessed of genius, or the faculty of invention; skillful
or promp to invent; having an aptitude to contrive, or to
form new combinations; as, an ingenious author, mechanic.
A man . . . very wise and ingenious in feats of war.
--Hakluyt.
Thou, king, send out For torturers ingenious.
--Shak.
The more ingenious men are, the more apt are they to
trouble themselves. --Sir W.
Temple.
2. Proseeding from, pertaining to, or characterized by,
genius or ingenuity; of curious design, structure, or
mechanism; as, an ingenious model, or machine; an
ingenious scheme, contrivance, etc.
Thus men go wrong with an ingenious skill. --Cowper.
3. Witty; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious; as, an ingenious
reply.
4. Mental; intellectual. [Obs.]
A course of learning and ingenious studies. --Shak.
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| Thesaurus Terms |
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| | Related Terms: | | acute, adept, adroit, apt, arch, artful, artistic, astute, authoritative, bravura, bright, brilliant, cagey, canny, clean, clever, conceptive, conceptual, coordinated, crack, crackerjack, crafty, creative, cunning, cute, daedal, Daedalian, deceitful, deep, deep-laid, deft, demiurgic, designing, dexterous, dextrous, diplomatic, esemplastic, excellent, expert, fancy, fecund, feline, fertile, foxy, germinal, gifted, good, goodish, graceful, guileful, handy, ideational, ideative, imaginative, innovational, innovative, insidious, inspired, inventive, keen, knowing, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, magisterial, masterful, masterly, neat, no mean, notional, on the ball, original, originative, pawky, politic, pregnant, productive, professional, proficient, prolific, quick, quite some, ready, resourceful, scheming, seminal, serpentine, shaping, sharp, shifty, shrewd, skilled, skillful, slick, slim, slippery, sly, smart, smooth, snaky, sneaky, some, sophistical, statesmanlike, stealthy, strategic, stylish, subtile, subtle, supple, tactful, tactical, talented, teeming, the compleat, the complete, trickish, tricksy, tricky, virtuoso, visioned, vulpine, wary, well-done, wily, workmanlike |
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