ingenious
English
Alternative forms
- engenious (obsolete)
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French ingénieux, from Old French engenious, from Latin ingeniōsus (“endowed with good natural capacity, gifted with genius”), from ingenium (“innate or natural quality, natural capacity, genius”), from in- (“in”) + gignere (“to produce”), Old Latin genere. See also engine.
Pronunciation
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iːniəs
Adjective
ingenious (comparative more ingenious, superlative most ingenious)
- Displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent.
- This fellow is ingenious; he fixed a problem I didn't even know I had.
- Characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived.
- That is an ingenious model of the atom.
- Witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious.
- He sent me an ingenious reply for an email.
Usage notes
Do not confuse with ingenuous.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:witty
- See also Thesaurus:intelligent
Related terms
Translations
displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent
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characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived
witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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References
- ingenious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- ingenious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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