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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

ingenuity en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˌɪnd͡ʒəˈn(j)uːəti/
  • (US) audio

Etymology

From Latin ingenuitās. Compare genius.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable, usually) The ability to solve difficult problems in original, clever, and inventive ways; ingeniousness.
    • Ingenuity is one of the characteristics of a beaver.
    • The pyramids demonstrate the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians.
    • Poverty is the mother of ingenuity.
    • 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. 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 103:
    • 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. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 189:
  2. (uncountable, usually) An ingenuous action or thought.
    • Virility is sustained, preserved, even recaptured, by man's ingenuities, by exotic foods and drinks, by rare herbal compounds, by fantastical manipulations, goetic periapts. 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page iii:
  3. (archaic, uncountable, usually) Ingenuousness; honesty, straightforwardness
    • And therefore I apply my selfe to ingenuitie, and ever to speake truth and what I think[…]. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
ingenuities Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

hyperingenuity · overingenuity · disingenuity · Yankee ingenuity · superingenuity · ingenuitive

Relateds

ingenious · industriousness · ingenuous

Translations (48)

ru изобрета́тельность (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · da snedighed (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · sv genialitet (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · mk генија́лност (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · nl vernuft (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · sv sinnrikhet (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · de Raffinesse (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · sv fyndighet (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ja 独創性 (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · gd eadar-ghnàth (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · cmn 創造力 /创造力 (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · tr beceri (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · fi kekseliäisyys (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · pt engenhosidade (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ia ingeniositate (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ca enginy (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · tr hüner (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · kk жасампаздық (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · kk тапқырлық (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ota صنعت (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · it ingegno (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · it ingegnosità (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · tr marifet (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · nb kløkt (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · hu leleményesség (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ro ingeniozitate (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ia ingenio (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · sk vynaliezavosť (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · bg изобретателност (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · es ingenuidad (ingenuousness) · nb oppfinnsomhet (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · tr ustalık (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · de Scharfsinn (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · sh инвенти́вно̄ст (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · hu találékonyság (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ro îndemânare (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · fi nokkeluus (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · sh inventívnōst (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · zlw-ocs chytř (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · gl enxeño (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · fr ingéniosité (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · de Einfallsreichtum (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · de Findigkeit (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · fi nerokkuus (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · nn kløkt (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · cmn 發明才能 /发明才能 (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ota هنر (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems) · ru нахо́дчивость (ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems)