ingenuity

English

Etymology

From Latin ingenuitās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnd͡ʒəˈn(j)uːəti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

ingenuity (usually uncountable, plural ingenuities)

1. The ability to solve difficult problems in original, clever, and inventive ways.

   The pyramids demonstrate the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians.

   Poverty is the mother of ingenuity.

   Ingenuity is one of the characteristics of a beaver.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 189:

     Half the ingenuity lavished on news—by news we mean the topics of the day as connected with their own circle—half this ingenuity would set up a whole Society of Antiquaries, and immortalise at least a dozen of them.

   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 103:

     The heavy freight traffic which shares the double line between Paddington and Wolverhampton with the passenger traffic has taxed the ingenuity of the timetable planners.

2. (now rare) Ingenuousness; honesty, straightforwardness
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     And therefore I apply my selfe to ingenuitie, and ever to speake truth and what I think […].

Derived terms

• Yankee ingenuity

Related terms

• ingenious
• ingenuous

Translations

ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems

• Bulgarian: изобретателност (bg) (izobretatelnost)
• Catalan: enginy (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發明才能／发明才能 (fāmíng cáinéng), 創造力／创造力 (zh) (chuàngzàolì)

• Danish: snedighed
• Dutch: vernuft (nl) n
• Finnish: nerokkuus (fi), nokkeluus (fi), kekseliäisyys (fi)
• French: ingéniosité (fr) f
• Galician: enxeño m
• German: Einfallsreichtum (de) m, Findigkeit (de) f, Raffinesse (de) f, Scharfsinn (de) m
• Hungarian: találékonyság (hu), leleményesség (hu)
• Interlingua: ingenio, ingeniositate
• Italian: ingegnosità (it), ingegno (it) m
• Japanese: 独創性 (どくそうせい, dokusōsei)
• Macedonian: генија́лност f (genijálnost)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kløkt (no) m, oppfinnsomhet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: kløkt f

• Ottoman Turkish: صنعت (sanʼat, zanʼat)
• Portuguese: engenhosidade f
• Romanian: ingeniozitate (ro) f, îndemânare (ro) f
• Russian: нахо́дчивость (ru) f (naxódčivostʹ), изобрета́тельность (ru) f (izobretátelʹnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-ghnàth m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: инвенти́вно̄ст f

  Roman: inventívnōst (sh) f

• Slovak: vynaliezavosť f
• Spanish: ingenio (es) m
• Swedish: fyndighet (sv) c, sinnrikhet (sv) c, genialitet (sv) c
• Turkish: beceri (tr), hüner (tr), marifet (tr), ustalık (tr)

See also

• industriousness

Anagrams

• genuinity