Adjacent Words

Ingenious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INGE'NIOUS, a. [L. ingeniosus, from ingenium; in and genius, geno, gigno, to beget.
1. Possessed of genius, or the faculty of invention; hence, skillful or prompt to invent; having an aptitude to contrive, or to form new combinations of ideas; as an ingenious author; an ingenious mechanic.
The more ingenious men are, the more apt are they to trouble themselves.
2. Proceeding from genius or ingenuity; of curious design, structure or mechanism; as an ingenious performance of any kind; an ingenious scheme or plan; an ingenious model or machine; ingenious fabric; ingenious contrivance.
3. Witty; well formed; well adapted; as an ingenious reply.
4. Mental; intellectual. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [syn: clever, cunning, ingenious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English ingenyous, from Middle French ingenieus, from Latin ingeniosus, from ingenium natural capacity — more at engine Date: 15th century 1. obsolete showing or calling for intelligence, aptitude, or discernment 2. marked by especial aptitude at discovering, inventing, or contriving 3. marked by originality, resourcefulness, and cleverness in conception or execution <an ingenious contraption> Synonyms: see clever • ingeniously adverb • ingeniousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 clever at inventing, constructing, organizing, etc.; skilful; resourceful. 2 (of a machine, theory, etc.) cleverly contrived. Derivatives: ingeniously adv. ingeniousness n. Etymology: ME, = talented, f. F ingénieux or L ingeniosus f. ingenium cleverness: cf. ENGINE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ingenious 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Something that is ingenious is very clever and involves new ideas, methods, or equipment. ...a truly ingenious invention... ADJ • ingeniously The roof has been ingeniously designed to provide solar heating. ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Inventive, gifted, able, sagacious, clever, bright, ready. 2. That shows invention, exhibiting ingenuity.

Moby Thesaurus

Daedalian, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, 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, 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, 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