Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having great inventive skill and imagination.
- adjective Marked by or exhibiting originality or inventiveness.
- adjective Obsolete Having genius; brilliant.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Possessing inventive genius or faculty; apt in inventing, contriving, or constructing; skilful in the use of things or words: as, an ingenious mechanic; an ingenious author.
- Mentally bright or clever; witty; conversable.
- Marked or characterized by inventive genius; displaying or proceeding from skill in contrivance or construction; witty or clever in form or spirit; well conceived; apt: as, an ingenious machine; an ingenious process or performance; ingenious criticism.
- Manifesting or requiring mental brightness or cleverness; intellectual; improving.
- Ingenuous.
- Synonyms Inventive, bright, acute, constructive. See
genius .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Possessed of genius, or the faculty of invention; skillful or promp to invent; having an aptitude to contrive, or to form new combinations.
- adjective Proceeding from, pertaining to, or characterized by, genius or ingenuity; of curious design, structure, or mechanism
- adjective Witty; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious.
- adjective obsolete Mental; intellectual.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Displaying
genius orbrilliance ; tending toinvent . - adjective Characterized by
genius ; cleverly done orcontrived . - adjective
Witty ;original ;shrewd ;adroit ;keen ;sagacious .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective showing inventiveness and skill
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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With these the English word ingenious has an obvious connection, especially in its earlier use as applied to men of letters.
Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic Benedetto Croce 1909
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It refers to an ingenious method of subterranean irrigation that exploits gravity to create arable land far beyond water sources, typically in desert environments.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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It refers to an ingenious method of subterranean irrigation that exploits gravity to create arable land far beyond water sources, typically in desert environments.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
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But what makes the ad so ingenious is the fact that is a mix of message, brand and "location."
Archive 2008-05-01 The Nag 2008
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Also the connection between belief and tool-making, while ingenious, is also purely speculative.
A second opinion ... Frank Wilson 2006
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I am just writing on how I think your plan on protecting marriage between a man and a woman in ingenious!
06/13/2005 2005
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"What you call an ingenious mathematical solution doesn't seem to be reflected in the patent," Voss told Samsung's lawyers.
SFGate: Don Asmussen: Bad Reporter Chronicle News Services 2011
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The life writer abovementioned has preserved a fragment of Mr. Butler's, given by one whom he calls the ingenious Mr. Aubrey, who assured him he had it from the poet himself; it is indeed admirable, and the satire sufficiently pungent against the priests.
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland Cibber, Theophilus, 1703-1758 1753
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The life writer abovementioned has preserved a fragment of Mr. Butler's, given by one whom he calls the ingenious Mr. Aubrey, who assured him he had it from the poet himself; it is indeed admirable, and the satire sufficiently pungent against the priests.
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume II Theophilus Cibber 1730
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He began in 1630 with a prose tract, the Hero, laboured in short ingenious sentences, which went through six editions.
The Spectator, Volume 2. Richard Steele 1700
cosmican commented on the word ingenious
Marked by independence and creativity in thought or action
November 20, 2007
sammyg commented on the word ingenious
Very mature word
February 1, 2012