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

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• Rhymes: -iːniəs

Adjective

ingenious (comparative more ingenious, superlative most ingenious)

1. Displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent.

   This fellow is ingenious; he fixed a problem I didn't even know I had.

2. Characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived.

   That is an ingenious model of the atom.

3. 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

Terms related to ingenious

• engine
• engineer

• genius
• ingeniosity

• ingeniousness

Translations

displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent

• Catalan: enginyós
• Danish: opfindsomt
• Dutch: ingenieus (nl)
• Finnish: nerokas (fi)
• French: ingénieux (fr)
• German: ingeniös (de), genial (de)
• Greek: εφευρετικός (el) m (efevretikós)

  Ancient: φρενοτέκτων (phrenotéktōn)

• Hungarian: találékony (hu)
• Italian: ingegnoso (it)
• Polish: pomysłowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: engenhoso (pt)
• Romanian: cu iscusință, iscusit (ro), ingenios (ro)
• Russian: изобрета́тельный (ru) (izobretátelʹnyj), нахо́дчивый (ru) (naxódčivyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: seòlta, teòma
• Spanish: ingenioso (es)

characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived

• Catalan: enginyós
• Czech: geniální (cs)
• Danish: opfindsomt
• Esperanto: genia
• Finnish: nerokas (fi)
• French: ingénieux (fr)

• Greek: μεγαλοφυής (el) m (megalofyís)
• Polish: pomysłowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: engenhoso (pt)
• Romanian: genial (ro)
• Russian: хитроу́мный (ru) (xitroúmnyj), оригина́льный (ru) (originálʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: seòlta, teòma

witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious

• Catalan: enginyós
• Dutch: vernuftig (nl)
• Finnish: terävä (fi), nokkela (fi)

• Greek: πολυμήχανος (el) m (polymíchanos), δαιμόνιος (el) m (daimónios)
• Hungarian: leleményes (hu)
• Scottish Gaelic: seòlta, teòma

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

• Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} eadar-ghnàthach

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} ingenioso (1-3)

References

• ingenious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ingenious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911