Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Ingenious |
IngeniousAdjective1. (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". 2. 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". 3. Showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success""; "an ingenious solution to the problem". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "ingenious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonyms: IngeniousSynonyms: adroit (adj), clever (adj), cunning (adj), imaginative (adj), inventive (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Skill | Clever, cute, able, ingenious, felicitous, gifted, talented, endowed; inventive; shrewd, sharp, on the ball; (intelligent); cunning; alive to, up to snuff, not to be caught with chaff; discreet. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Ingenious |
| English words defined with "ingenious": adroit, Asteism ♦ Chinese puzzle, clever, cleverness, cunning ♦ Daedalian ♦ Enginous ♦ imaginative, ingeniously, ingeniousness, ingenuity, inventive ♦ Novel assignment ♦ piece of work ♦ Sun and planet wheels ♦ To brace sharp, To sharp up ♦ Weather house, Witily, work. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "ingenious": Administration, Alderman, ART ♦ -art ♦ BAROMETER ♦ Corporation, Cute ♦ Debt, Devil ♦ Epigram ♦ FLY, Frog ♦ ghost, GOOSE ♦ Handsome ♦ INSURANCE, INVENTOR ♦ Lollards ♦ Mother Bunch ♦ NACKY, Norna of the Fitful Head ♦ Palamedes of Lombardy, Pepper ♦ Rinaldo ♦ truth. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "ingenious": Ingeny. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Ingenious! My compliments to the boys in the code department (Arsenic and Old Lace; writing credit: Ryuzo Kikushima; Akira Kurosawa) Your work is ingenious. It's quality work (Amadeus; writing credit: Peter Shaffer;) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | ... one of the numerous ingenious devices permitting the handling of radioactive substances ... / Brookhaven National Laboratory photo. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | The ingenious quarterback!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Federal officials adopt ingenious plan to cool Treasury. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Edgar Allan Poe | It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic. |
Samuel Taylor Coleridge | He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope. |
Sir Arthur Helps | Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for drugging thought. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Tangled Tale | Carroll, Lewis | BLITHE has made so ingenious an addition to the problem, and SIMPLE SUSAN and Co. |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | There was a most ingenious doctor who seemed to be perfectly versed in the whole nature and system of government |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom. Following are some of the more notable epigrams of the learned and ingenious Dr. Jamrach Holobom: We know better the needs of ourselves than of others. To serve oneself is economy of administration. In each human heart are a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale. Diversity of character is due to their unequal activity. There are three sexes; males, females and girls. Beauty in women and distinction in men are alike in this: they seem to be the unthinking a kind of credibility. Women in love are less ashamed than men. They have less to be ashamed of. While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are safe, for you can watch both his. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Although this proposition was refused by a direct vote of the Convention, the object was afterwards in effect obtained by its ingenious advocates through a strained construction of the Constitution. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Ingenious" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.34% of the time. "Ingenious" is used about 453 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.34% | 450 | 12,930 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.66% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 453 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "ingenious": ingenious person. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
design ingenious | 15 |
ingenious | 15 |
ingenious mechanism | 5 |
estee ingenious lauder so | 2 |
ingenious toy | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "ingenious"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i zgjuar (apt, artful, astir, awake, awaken, bright, cagey, cagy, clever, exalted, intelligent, nimble, quick, quick-witted, ready-witted, reasonable, responsible, sagacious, sharp, sharp-witted, sleepless, smart, wakeful, waking), i mprehtë (acute, astute, bright, clairvoyant, Clarion, discerning, edgy, exquisite, fine, high, high pitched, incisive, keen, keen-witted, knowing, nimble, penetrating, penetrative, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, piercing, piping, pointed, pungent, quick, ridged, ridgy, sagacious, salt, sharp, sharp cut, shrill, subtile, subtle, tart, trenchant), i hollë (dainty, delicate, dinky, discerning, egg shell, exquisite, flimsy, gauzy, gossamer, gossamery, keen, liny, meager, meagre, nice, paper, papery, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, politic, sleazy, slender, slim, small, spidery, spindling, spindly, subtile, subtle, tenuous, thin, Twiggy, washy). (various references) | |
Arabic | ماهر (adept, adroit, astute, clever, consummate, deft, nimble, proficient, shrewd, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick, sound, subtle), مبتكر (creator, innovator, inventor, original), حازق (nimble, resourceful, smart), حاذق (adroit, clever, dexterous, dextrous, proficient, skilful, skilled, skillful, subtle), ذكي (acute, agile, astute, brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, cute, dashing, fox, intelligent, knowledgeable, luminous, natty, penetrating, quick, sagacious, sharp, sharp-witted, smart, wise, witty), بارع (able, accomplished, adroit, artful, bright, brilliant, capable, clever, crafty, cunning, dexterous, dextrous, educated, fancy, fiend, foxy, handsome, handy, intelligent, masterful, masterly, neat, nice, pretty, skilful, skilled, skillful, smart, subtle, superior, sweet, very beautiful, witty, workmanlike, workmanly). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сръчен (able, adroit, agile, crafty, cunning, deft, dexterous, dextrous, feat, handy, knacky, knowing, light-handed, neat-handed, practised, pretty, skilful, skillful, smart, two-handed), остроумен (patent, ready-witted, salt, salty, smart, witty), находчив (adroit, clever, inventive, mercurial, quick-witted, ready-witted, resourceful, shifty, smart), изобретателен (clever, inventive, originative, resourceful). (various references) | |
Chinese | 巧妙 (clever). (various references) | |
Czech | vynalézavý (inventive, pregnant, resourceful), geniální (brilliant, great), duchaplný (brainy, racy, spirited, witty), šikovný (astute, cunning, cute, deft, dexterous, handy, natty, nifty, skilled). (various references) | |
Dutch | geniaal. (various references) | |
Esperanto | genia. (various references) | |
Faeroese | flogvitigur. (various references) | |
Farsi | مخترع (Inventor), مبتکر (Originator), ناشی اززیرکی , دارای هوش ابتکاری , دارای قوه ابتکار, باهوش (Bright, Clever, Intelligent, Keen, Precocious, Sagacious, Shrewd, Smart, Spiffy, Spry, Swish, Understanding). (various references) | |
Finnish | nerokas, näppärä (clever, deft, dexterous, handy), kekseliäs (inventive, resourceful). (various references) | |
French | ingénieux (inventive), astucieux. (various references) | |
German | genial (ingeniously), sinnreich (clever), erfinderisch (inventive, imaginative), ausgeklügelt (clever-clever, elaborate). (various references) | |
Greek | έξυπνοσ (alert, awake, brainy, cagey, cagy, canny, clever, cute, hard-headed, intelligent, knowing, parlous, politic, sharp, sharp-witted, smart, spiffy), πολυμήχανοσ (cunning, resourceful), πολυμήχανος, ευφυήσ (bright, clever, subtile, subtle, witty), ευφευρετικόσ, εφευρετικός (inventive), δαιμόνιοσ (miraculous). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מחוכם (politic, shrewd, subtle), שנון (keen, learning, memorizing, pointed, repetition, revision, salty, sharp, subtle, whetting, witty), בעל כח המצאה (inventive). (various references) | |
Hungarian | találékony (resourceful, inventive, mercurial), eszes (brainy, shrewd), ügyes (able, dexterous, adroit, clever, skillful, adept, artful, deft, dextrous, skilful). (various references) | |
Indonesian | banyak akal (artful). (various references) | |
Italian | ingegnoso (clever, cunning, patent). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 巧妙 (clever, deft, skillful). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | どくそうせいにとむ, こうみょう (clever, deft, fame, glory, great achievement, hope, renown, right future, skillful). (various references) | |
Korean | 재능이 있는. (various references) | |
Manx | schleioil (adroit, dexterous, practised, skilful, skilled, talented), schleial (skilful). (various references) | |
Norwegian | skarpsindig (canny, discerning), oppfinnsom (inventive). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ingeniousay.(various references) | |
Polish | genialny. (various references) | |
Portuguese | inventivo (daedal, inventive, knacky, originative), habilidoso (artful, corndodger, dexterous, dextrous, dodger, handy, hoe-cake, knacky, skilful, skillful, slick, tactical, wieldy), hbil (habile), genial (genial), esperto (smart), engenhoso (canny, resourceful, skilful, skillful). (various references) | |
Romanian | iscusit (able, adroit, apt, argute, clean, clever, cute, daedal, deft, learned, ready, sharp-sighted, skilful, skilled, skillful, workmanlike), inventiv (gumptious, inventive), ingenios (clever, cleverly, cute, daedal, inventive, patent, sagacious, skilful, skillful), priceput (able, capable, clever, competent, experienced, expert, gumptious, industrious, knowing, knowingly, old, salted, scientific, skilful, skilled, skillful, versed), plin de ingeniozitate, nãscocitor (coiner, cooker, inventor, manufacturer), bogat în idei. (various references) | |
Russian | удачный (felicitous), остроумный (witty), искусный (adroit, habile, neat-handed, workmanlike), изобретательный (inventive). (various references) | |
Scottish | seòlta (crafty, skilful, wily, wise), àirdeil. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | ingeniozan, uman (thinking), genijalan (brilliant, daedal, great). (various references) | |
Spanish | ingenioso (artful, witty). (various references) | |
Swedish | sinnrik (clever), fyndig (inventive). (various references) | |
Thai | ชาญฉลาด. (various references) | |
Turkish | zeki (apt, as fresh as paint, astute, brainy, bright, brilliant, clear, clever, cute, discerning, intellectual, intelligent, keen, keen-witted, longheaded, luminous, neat, nifty, nimble-witted, penetrating, penetrative, perceptional, perspicacious, quick of comprehension, quick on the trigger, quick-witted, sapient, sharp, sharp-witted, shrewd, smart, sparkling, spiritual, subtile, subtle, understanding), yaratıcı (architect, author, builder, composer, creative, creator, father, fertile, imaginative, inspired, inventive, inventor, originative, originator, pregnant, procreative, procreator, productive, worker), ustaca yapılmış (subtile, subtle), usta (adept, adroit, artist, connoisseur, constructor, craftsman, dab, dabster, deft, dexterous, experienced, expert, facile, hand, intelligent, journeyman, master, old hand, proficient, shark, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick, subtile, versed, whizz, wise, workman, Wright), marifetli (cunning, dextrous, nimble-fingered, skilful, skilled, talented), hünerli (dexterous, performing, skillful, skilly, talented, versed), becerikli (adept, adroit, agile, capable, clever, deft, designing, dexterous, dextrous, efficient, facile, gifted, handsome, knowing, light-handed, neat, nimble-fingered, performing, practical, pushful, pushing, ready, resourceful, shifty, skilful, skilled, skillful, skilly, slick, smart, versatile, wise). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | винахідливий (adroit, apposite, daedal, dedal, inventive, nimble, quick-witted, ready-witted, resourceful, shifty), дотепний (attic, brainy, cute, dodgy, facetious, jocular, nimble, nimble-witted, quick-witted, sharp, sharp-witted, spiritual, waggish, witty). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | mưu trí, khéo léo tài tình. (various references) | |
Welsh | ciwt (clever, cute), celfyddgar (artistic). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | callide, callidi, callidior, callidus, faber, ingeniosus, scita, scitis, scito, solers, sollertia. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 8, Verse 12 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Egw h sofia kateskhnwsa boulhn kai gnwsin kai ennoian egw epekalesamhn |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Ego sapientia habito in consilio et eruditis intersum cogitationibus |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | I, wisdam, dwelle in counseil; and am among to lerned thoytis. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of ingenious inventions. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | I, wisdom, have made wise behaviour my near relation; I am seen to be the special friend of wise purposes. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 8, Verse 12 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Ako nga kaalam naghimo sa kabuotan nga maoy akong puloyanan. Ug nagapangita sa kahibalo ug sa pagpili-sa-maayo. |
| Chinese | 我 智 慧 以 靈 明 為 居 所 、 又 尋 得 知 識 和 謀 略 。 |
| Croatian | Ja, mudrost, boravim s razboritošæu i posjedujem znanje umna djelovanja. |
| Danish | Jeg, Visdom, er Klogskabs Nabo og råder over Kundskab og Kløgt. |
| Dutch | Ik, Wijsheid, woon bij de kloekzinnigheid, en vinde de kennis van alle bedachtzaamheid. |
| Finnish | Minä, viisaus, olen perehtynyt mielevyyteen, olen löytänyt tiedon ja taidollisuuden. |
| French | Moi, la sagesse, j`ai pour demeure le discernement, Et je possède la science de la réflexion. |
| German | Ich, Weisheit, wohne bei der Klugheit und weiß guten Rat zu geben. |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Mwen menm Bon Konprann, mwen gen lespri. Mwen gen bon tèt pou m' konprann. |
| Hungarian | Én bölcsesség lakozom az eszességben, és a megfontolás tudományát megnyerem. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Akulah hikmat; padaku ada pengertian, kebijaksanaan dan pengetahuan. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Bahwa aku ini, Hikmat, adalah duduk bersama-sama dengan akal tajam, dan aku telah mendapat segala pengetahuan dan kepandaian. |
| Italian | Io, la Sapienza, possiedo la prudenza e ho la scienza e la riflessione. |
| Maori | ¶ Kua meinga e ahau, e te whakaaro nui, ko te ngarahu pai hei nohoanga moku, e kitea ana e ahau te mohio me te ata whakaaro. |
| Norwegian | Jeg, visdommen, har klokskap i eie, og jeg forstår å finne kloke råd. |
| Portuguese | Eu, a sabedoria, habito com a prudência, e possuo o conhecimento e a discrição. |
| Rumanian | Eu, Knyelepciunea, am ca locuinyq mintea, wi pot nqscoci cele mai chibzuite planuri. |
| Russian | с, РТЕНХДТПУФШ, ПВЙФБА У ТБЪХНПН Й ЙЭХ ТБУУХДЙФЕМШОПЗП ЪОБОЙС. |
| Swedish | Jag, visheten, är förtrogen med klokheten, och jag råder över eftertänksam insikt. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "ingenious": ingeniously, ingeniousness, ingeniousnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "ingenious": overingenious. (additional references) | |
| |
"Ingenious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: engenious, igenious, ignatious, ingeneous, ingenieurs, ingeniopus, ingeniouns, ingenium, ingeniuos, ingenius, ingenous, ingenuorum, ingenuouss, ingenuousz, ingenvous, inginious, inseficus. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "ingenious" (pronounced i'njē"nyus) |
| 6 | -j ē" n y u s | genius, heterogeneous. |
| 3 | -y u s | rebellious. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-i-i-n-n-o-s-u" | |
-1 letter: enginous, unionise. | |
-2 letters: ensuing, guenons, gunnies, igneous, insigne, noising, seining. | |
-3 letters: ennuis, ensign, genius, guenon, inions, ionise, nonuse, nosing, soigne, unions, unison. | |
-4 letters: ennui, eosin, genii, genus, guise, inion, negus, neons, nines, nisei, noise, nones, nouns, segni, segno, sengi, singe, suing, union, using. | |
-5 letters: egis, egos, engs, eons, gens, genu, gien, gies, gins, gnus, goes. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-i-i-n-n-o-s-u" | |
+1 letter: indigenous. | |
+2 letters: ingeniously, questioning. | |
+3 letters: disingenuous, indigenously, nonreligious, outdesigning, overinsuring. | |
+4 letters: housetraining, immunogenesis, incongruities, ingeniousness, nonindigenous, overingenious, rediscounting, unquestioning. | |
+5 letters: counterpoising, countersigning, countersinking, disingenuously, exsanguination, immunogenetics, indigenousness, ingloriousness, overnourishing, reconstituting, requisitioning, semiconducting, ungenerosities. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
