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
- IPA(key): /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːnjəs/, /ɪnˈd͡ʒiːniəs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iːniəs
- Hyphenation: in‧ge‧nious
Adjective
ingenious (comparative more ingenious, superlative most ingenious)
- Of a person: Displaying genius or brilliance; inventive.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intelligent
- This fellow is ingenious; he fixed a problem I didn’t even know I had.
- Of a thing: characterized by genius; cleverly contrived or done.
- Synonym: artful
- That is an ingenious model of the atom.
- Showing originality or sagacity; witty.
- Synonyms: adroit, keen, sagacious, shrewd; see also Thesaurus:witty
- He sent me an ingenious reply to an email.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 147:
- I have scarcely recovered the surprise of the ingenious question, before I meet another surprise in the still more ingenious answer
Usage notes
Not to be confused with ingenuous.
Related terms
- engine
- engineer
- genius
- ingeniosity
- ingeniousness
Translations
displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent
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characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived
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witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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