Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Ingenuity |
IngenuityNoun1. The power of creative imagination. 2. The property of being ingenious; "a plot of great ingenuity"; "the cleverness of its design". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "ingenuity" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The term ingenuity or applied ideas is used in the analysis of Thomas Homer-Dixon, building on that of Richard Romer, to refer to what is usually called instructional capital. Ingenuity is often inherent in creative individuals, and thus is considered hard to separate from individual capital. It is not clear if Dixon or Romer considered it impossible to do so, or if they were simply not familiar with the prior analysis of "applied ideas", "intellectual capital", "talent", or "innovation" where instructional and individual contributions have been carefully separated, by economic theorists.See also: ingenuity gap, instructional capital
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ingenuity."
Synonyms: IngenuitySynonyms: cleverness (n), ingeniousness (n), inventiveness (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Skill | Cleverness, talent, ability, ingenuity, capacity, parts, talents, faculty, endowment, forte, turn, gift, genius; intelligence; sharpness, readiness; (activity); invention; aptness, turn for, capacity for, genius for; felicity, capability, curiosa felicitas, qualification, habilitation. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Ingenuity |
| English words defined with "ingenuity": Bouts-rimes ♦ devilish, diabolic, diabolical ♦ humor, humour ♦ infinite, Ingeniosity, Ingeny ♦ mephistophelean, mephistophelian ♦ puzzle ♦ sophism, sophistry ♦ The five wits ♦ wit, witticism, wittiness. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "ingenuity": Engines ♦ Flies ♦ Google ♦ Handkerchiefs ♦ intellectual property rights, Inventors Punished ♦ Potable ♦ tights ♦ Waist and Shirt-Waist, Worms. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You know, your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, match only by its ingenuity in trying to destroy itself (Doctor Who; writing credit: Basil Caplan; Martin Defalco) Sheer ingenuity. (Igby Goes Down; writing credit: Burr Steers) I suppose there is a sort of Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Ingenuity (1912) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A now uncommon and romantic building type, the Beebe Windmill provided mechanization to the grinding of grain. This rare survivor teaches us about the evolution of industrial technologies and the ingenuity of early American craftsman who fashioned the moving parts out of the most readily available material at hand, wood. HABS and HAER documentation provides information for the care and maintenance of structures for which the original drawings typically do not survive. The formats of HAER documentation for this windmill include a written history, photographs, and measured drawings. The selected drawings and photographs shown here demonstrate how the nformation in each format can supplement the other. The photographs record information as the camera sees it in a one-point perspective. The drawings illustrate the grain mill and clarify how its parts fit together, what dimensions they are, and how they interact to grind the grain. West elevation. Photograph by Jet Lowe, 1978. (Reproduction Number: HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-1). Credit: Library of Congress. |  | British ingenuity uses war weapon for peacetime service. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Ingenuity of man. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Winston Churchill | Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | Were two puzzles, on which my readers might exercise their ingenuity. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | But it was to the mortification of touch that he brought the most assiduous ingenuity of inventiveness |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | By which the reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity of that people, as well as the prudent and exact economy of so great a prince |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Australia | Australian industry is known for its ingenuity and practical approach to problem solving. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TIGHTS, n. An habiliment of the stage designed to reinforce the general acclamation of the press agent with a particular publicity. Public attention was once somewhat diverted from this garment to Miss Lillian Russell's refusal to wear it, and many were the conjectures as to her motive, the guess of Miss Pauline Hall showing a high order of ingenuity and sustained reflection. It was Miss Hall's belief that nature had not endowed Miss Russell with beautiful legs. This theory was impossible of acceptance by the male understanding, but the conception of a faulty female leg was of so prodigious originality as to rank among the most brilliant feats of philosophical speculation! It is strange that in all the controversy regarding Miss Russell's aversion to tights no one seems to have thought to ascribe it to what was known among the ancients as "modesty." The nature of that sentiment is now imperfectly understood, and possibly incapable of exposition with the vocabulary that remains to us. The study of lost arts has, however, been recently revived and some of the arts themselves recovered. This is an epoch of renaissances, and there is ground for hope that the primitive "blush" may be dragged from its hiding-place amongst the tombs of antiquity and hissed on to the stage. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Science is steadily penetrating the recesses of nature and disclosing her secrets, while the ingenuity of free minds is subjecting the elements to the power of man and making each new conquest auxiliary to his comfort. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Let us apply our ingenuity and remarkable spirit to revolutionize education in America so that everyone among us will have the mental tools to build a better life. |
George Bush | 1989-1993 | We'll match our ingenuity, our energy, our experience, and technology our spirit and enterprise against anyone. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Ingenuity" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Ingenuity" is used about 349 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 |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 349 | 15,301 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; 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. |
| Language | Translations for "ingenuity"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | zotësi (ability, aptitude, capacity, faculty, hand, knack, proficiency, skill), zgjuarsi (ability, acuteness, aptness, artfulness, cleverness, finesse, ingeniousness, intelligence, mind, readiness, sagacity, shrewdness, smartness, wit). (various references) | |
Arabic | إبداع (creation, fantasy, ingeniousness, magnum opus, novelty, originality, origination, phantasy), أداة بارعة, آلة بارعة, براعة (address, artfulness, artifice, cleverness, craft, craftiness, cunning, dexterity, facility, finesse, hand, ingeniousness, knack, know how, mastery, proficiency, science, skill, skillfulness, sleight of hand, tact, trick, workmanship). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | умно измислено устройство, остроумие (ingeniousness, repartee, salt, sparkle, wit, witticism, wittiness), находчивост (acumen, ingeniousness, know how, mercuriality, repartee, resource, resourcefulness, smartness), изобретателност (contrivance, ingeniousness, invention). (various references) | |
Chinese | 机巧, 創造力 (creativity). (various references) | |
Czech | duchaplnost, dùmysl. (various references) | |
Danish | opfindelsesaktivitet (amount of invention, degree of inventive ingenuity, inventive ingenuity, level of invention, merit of invention, standard of invention). (various references) | |
Dutch | uitvindingshoogte (amount of invention, degree of inventive ingenuity, inventive ingenuity, inventive step, level of invention, level of inventiveness, merit of invention, standard of invention). (various references) | |
Farsi | مهارت (Address, Artifice, Craft, Gripe, Knack, Proficiency, Skill, Sophistication, Tact, Versatility, Workmanship), نبوغ (Genius), قوه ابتکار (Creativity), صفا (Candor, Candour, Purity, Serenity), امادگی برای اختراع , استعداد (Amplitude, Aptitude, Aptness, Art, Brilliance, Caliber, Capacity, Genius, Gift, Knack, Liability, Property, Shift, Tendency, Turquoise, Verve). (various references) | |
Finnish | nerokkuus (genius, ingeniousness). (various references) | |
French | ingéniosité (ingeniousness, inventiveness), naïveté (innocence). (various references) | |
German | genialität (ingeniousness, brilliancy). (various references) | |
Greek | εξυπνάδα (brightness, caginess, cleverness, cunning, cunningness, cuteness, hardheadedness, intelligence, shrewdness, smartness, wisecrack, wit), ευφυΐα, ευφυία (ability, braininess, cleverness, ingeniousness, sagaciousness, shrewdness, smartness, subtlety, wit, wittiness), εφευρετικότητα (contrivance, inventiveness, resource, resourcefulness), αγχίνοια (sagacity). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שנינות (cleverness, ingeniousness, perspicacity, salt, sarcasm, subtlety, wit), כוח המצאה (ingeniousness). (various references) | |
Hungarian | találékonyság (contrivance, resource), leleményesség (resource). (various references) | |
Italian | inventiva (inventiveness), ingegnosità (cleverness, resource), abilità (ability, expertness, skilfulness, skill, skillfulness). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 知謀 (resourcefulness), 知略 (resourcefulness), 独創性 , お点前 (artistry, dexterity, skill), お手前 (artistry, dexterity, skill), 智謀 (resourcefulness), 智略 (resourcefulness). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おてまえ (artistry, dexterity, skill), どくそうせい, ちぼう (resourcefulness), ちりゃく (governance, resourcefulness). (various references) | |
Korean | 재간. (various references) | |
Norwegian | lurt påfunn. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ingenuityay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | talento (talent), habilidade (ability), engenho (machine, mill, resourcefulness, spirit, wit), capacidade de inveno. (various references) | |
Romanian | iscusinţã (ability, address, art, astuteness, cleverness, fitness, ingenuousness, knack, management, skill, talent), inventivitate (gumption, ingenuousness, inventiveness, resourcefulness), inteligenţã (brain, brain-sauce, cleverness, comprehension, cuteness, intellect, intelligence, light, smartness, understanding, wit), ingeniozitate (cleverness, cuteness, ingeniousness, ingenuousness, inventiveness, sagacity, skill), talent (ability, accomplishments, aptitude, capability, dower, dowry, endowment, facility, faculty, felicity, genius, gift, knack, part, skill, talent, turn, twist), spirit inventiv (ingenuousness, inventiveness). (various references) | |
Russian | оригинальность (originality), искусность (cleverness, neatness, skillfulness, subtlety), изобретательность (contrivance, ingeniousness, invention, resourcefulness), 1. изобретательность . (various references) | |
Scottish | seòltachd (craftiness, cunning, wiliness). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | genijalnost (ingeniousness). (various references) | |
Spanish | inventiva (contrivance, imagination, invention, inventiveness, resourcefulness), ingeniosidad (acumen, artifice, astuteness, ingeniousness, resourcefulness), ingenio (ability, apparatus, artfulness, cleverness, consciousness, contraption, device, engine, erudition, foundry, genius, inventiveness, mill, nimbleness, plant, saltiness, talented person, wisp, wit), lo inventivo. (various references) | |
Swedish | påhittighet (inventiveness, nous). (various references) | |
Thai | ความเฉลียวฉลาด (shrewdness). (various references) | |
Turkish | yaratıcılık (art, creativeness, creativity, genius, ingeniousness, invention, productivity), ustalık (art, artfulness, craftsmanship, deftness, dexterity, expertness, facility, feat, finesse, hand, handiness, ingeniousness, knack, masterliness, mastership, mastery, perfection, proficiency, skill, sleight, subtility, subtlety, virtuosity, wizardry, workmanship), marifet (artifice, attainments, cunning, gimmick, ingeniousness, skill, stunt, talent, trick, wrinkle), hüner (address, adroitness, art, attainments, craft, craftsmanship, deftness, dexterity, skill, stunt), beceri (ability, accomplishment, accomplishments, address, adroitness, art, artfulness, artifice, attainments, craft, cunning, deftness, dexterity, faculty, feat, finesse, ingeniousness, knack, know how, resource, savoir faire, science, skill, sleight, wizardry). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | відвертість (baldness, candidness, candor, candour, explicitness, frankness, open-heartedness, openness, plainness, unreserve), винахідливість (adroitness, contrivance, initiative, invention, inventiveness, nimbleness, resourcefulness), дотепність (nimbleness, repartee, smartness, wit). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tài khéo léo (art, ingeniousness). (various references) | |
Welsh | athrylith (genius, intuition, talent). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | sollertia, versutia. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "ingenuity": overingenuity. (additional references) | |
| |
"Ingenuity" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: engenuity, Ingemuit, ingenuety, ingenuinty, ingenuitey, inginuity. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "ingenuity" (pronounced i'njunuw"utē) |
| 6 | -u n uw" u t ē | annuity, continuity, discontinuity. |
| 4 | -uw" u t ē | acuity, ambiguity, congruity, gratuity, incongruity, perpetuity, promiscuity. |
| 3 | -u t ē | absurdity, acceptability, accessibility, ability, abnormality, accountability, acidity, activity, actuality, adaptability, admissibility, adversity, advisability, affinity, affordability, aggressivity, agility, alacrity, alkalinity, amenity, amiability, amity, analyticity, animosity, anonymity, antiquity, anxiety, applicability, atrocity, audacity, austerity, authenticity, authority, availability, banality, barbarity, believability, bestiality, biodiversity, bisexuality, brevity, brutality, calamity, capability, capacity, captivity, causality, cavity, celebrity, centrality, charity, chastity, civility, clarity, collegiality, commodity, commonality, community, comparability, compatibility, complexity, complicity, comprehensibility, conditionality, conductivity, confidentiality, conformity, congeniality, connectivity, constitutionality, convertibility, creativity, credibility, credulity, criminality, criticality, crotchety, culpability, curiosity, cyclicality, debility, deductibility, deformity, deity, deniability, density, dependability, depravity, deputy, desirability, dexterity, dignity, dimensionality, disability, irresponsibility, irritability, laity, laxity, legality, disparity, dissimilarity, disunity, diversity, divinity, docility, domesticity, duality, ductility, duplicity, durability, eccentricity, elasticity, electability, electricity, eligibility, enforceability, enmity, enormity, entity, equality, equanimity, equity, eternity, ethnicity, eventuality, exclusivity, expressivity, extraterritoriality, extremity, facility, fallibility, falsity, familiarity, fatality, feasibility, Felicity, femininity, ferocity, fertility, festivity, fidelity, finality, flammability, flexibility, fluidity, formality, fragility, fraternity, frivolity, frugality, functionality, futility, generality, generosity, geniality, gentility, gravity, gullibility, heredity, heterogeneity, heterosexuality, hilarity, homogeneity, homosexuality, hospitality, hostility, humanity, humidity, humility, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, identity, illegality, illiquidity, immaturity, immobility, immorality, immortality, immunity, impartiality, impersonality, impossibility, impropriety, impunity, impurity, inability, inaccessibility, inactivity, incapacity, incivility, incompatibility, incredulity, indemnity, indestructibility, indignity, individuality, inequality, inequity, inevitability, infallibility, inferiority, infertility, infidelity, infinity, infirmity, inflexibility, informality, inhumanity, insanity, insecurity, insensitivity, instability, instrumentality, insularity, integrity, intensity, invincibility, invisibility, invulnerability, irrationality, irregularity, legibility, lethality, levity, liability, liberality, liquidity, lividity, locality, longevity, majority, malleability, maneuverability, marketability, masculinity, materiality, maternity, maturity, mediocrity, mendacity, mentality, minority, miscibility, mobility, modality, modernity, monstrosity, morality, morbidity, mortality, motility, multiplicity, municipality, musicality, mutuality, nationality, nativity, necessity, negativity, neutrality, nobility, Nonconformity, nonentity, nonutility, normality, notoriety, nudity, obesity, objectivity, obscenity, obscurity, oddity, opacity, opportunity, originality, overcapacity, oversensitivity, palatability, parity, partiality, particularity, passivity, paternity, paucity, peculiarity, permeability, perplexity, personality, perversity, piety, plausibility, plurality, polarity, polity, pomposity, popularity, portability, possibility, posterity, practicality, predictability, principality, priority, probability, probity, proclivity, productivity, profanity, profitability, progressivity, propensity, proportionality, propriety, prosperity, proximity, publicity, punctuality, purity, quality, quantity, radioactivity, rapidity, rarity, rationality, reactivity, readability, reality, receptivity, reciprocity, reflexivity, regularity, relativity, reliability, religiosity, respectability, responsibility, retroactivity, rickety, rigidity, salinity, sanctity, sanity, scarcity, seasonality, security, selectivity, senility, seniority, sensibility, sensitivity, sensuality, sentimentality, serendipity, serenity, severity, sexuality, similarity, simplicity, sincerity, sobriety, society, solemnity, solidarity, solidity, sorority, speciality, specificity, spirituality, spontaneity, stability, sterility, stupidity, subjectivity, suitability, superconductivity, superfluidity, superiority, supermajority, surety, survivability, susceptibility, sustainability, technicality, temerity, tenacity, theatricality, timidity, tonality, totality, toxicity, tranquility, transferability, Trinity, triviality, turbidity, ubiquity, unanimity, unavailability, unfamiliarity, uniformity, unity, universality, university, unpopularity, unpredictability, unreality, unreliability, uppity, utility, validity, vanity, variability, variety, varsity, velocity, velvety, venality, veracity, Verity, versatility, viability, vicinity, virginity, virility, virtuosity, viscosity, visibility, vitality, volatility, voracity, vulgarity, vulnerability. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-i-i-n-n-t-u-y" | |
-2 letters: uniting, untying. | |
-3 letters: gunite, ignite, intine, ninety, tieing, tining, tuning, tyning. | |
-4 letters: ennui, eying, genii, ginny, gunny, tinge, tinny, tunny, tying, unite, unity, untie. | |
-5 letters: etui, gent, genu, gien, inti, nine, nite, tine, ting, tiny, tune, tung, tyin, tyne, unit, yeti. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-i-i-n-n-t-u-y" | |
+4 letters: genitourinary, overingenuity, undeviatingly, unremittingly. | |
+5 letters: immunogenicity, unappetizingly, uncongeniality, unhesitatingly, unintelligibly. | |
| 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.
