Ingenious

/ɪnˈdʒinjəs/

IPA guide

Something ingenious shows creativity and inventiveness. If someone compares you to Einstein, they're implying that you, too, are ingenious.

Ingenious comes from the Latin words for inborn talent. It started off meaning someone who was talented or incredibly smart, but has come to mean "inventive" or "clever." If you could calculate how long a given water supply would last during a drought in your head, people might call you a math genius. But if you can come up with a solution to solve all water shortage issues during a drought, you will be praised as ingenious. Ingenious can also describe an object, like an ingenious device.

Definitions of ingenious

adjective
showing inventiveness and skill

“an ingenious solution to the problem”

synonyms: clever, cunning

adroit
quick or skillful or adept in action or thought

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Commonly confused words

ingenious / ingenuous

Anything ingenious is smart and clever, but ingenuous means innocent and naive. The ingenious villain in your favorite comic book series might come up with diabolical plots, while the ingenuous heroine doesn't suspect a thing.

Word Family

ingenious / ingenuous

Vocabulary lists containing ingenious

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