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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

clev·er

Audio Help [klev-er] Pronunciation Key

–adjective, -er, -est.

1.	mentally bright; having sharp or quick intelligence; able.

2.	superficially skillful, witty, or original in character or construction; facile: It was an amusing, clever play, but of no lasting value.

3.	showing inventiveness or originality; ingenious: His clever device was the first to solve the problem.

4.	adroit with the hands or body; dexterous or nimble.

Older Use.

a.	suitable; convenient; satisfactory.

b.	good-natured.

handsome.

d.	in good health.

[Origin: 1175–1225; ME cliver, akin to OE clifer claw, clife burdock. See cleavers

]

—Related forms

clev·er·ish, adjective

clev·er·ish·ly, adverb

clev·er·ly, adverb

clev·er·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. ingenious, talented, quick-witted; smart, gifted; apt, expert. 4. skillful, agile, handy.

—Antonyms 1. stupid. 4. clumsy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Cleverness

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

clev·er Audio Help (klěv'ər) Pronunciation Key
adj. clev·er·er, clev·er·est

Mentally quick and original; bright.
Nimble with the hands or body; dexterous.
Exhibiting quick-wittedness: a clever story.
New England Easily managed; docile: "Oxen must be pretty clever to be bossed around the way they are" (Dialect Notes).
New England Affable but not especially smart.
Chiefly Southern U.S. Good-natured; amiable. See Regional Note at ugly.

[Middle English cliver; akin to East Frisian klifer, klüfer; see gleubh- in Indo-European roots.]

clev'er·ly adv., clev'er·ness n.

Synonyms: These adjectives refer to mental adroitness or to practical ingenuity and skill. Clever is the most comprehensive: "Everybody's family doctor was remarkably clever, and was understood to have immeasurable skill in the management and training of the most skittish or vicious diseases" (George Eliot).
Ingenious implies originality and inventiveness: "an ingenious solution to the storage problem" (Linda Greider).
Shrewd emphasizes mental astuteness and practical understanding: "a woman of shrewd intellect" (Leslie Stephen).

In the 17th and 18th centuries, in addition to its basic sense of "able to use the brain readily and effectively," the word clever acquired a constellation of imprecise but generally positive senses in regional British speech: "clean-limbed and handsome," "neat and convenient to use," and "of an agreeable disposition." Some of these British regional senses, brought over when America was colonized, are still found in American regional speech, as in the South, where clever can mean "good-natured, amiable" in old-fashioned speech. The speech of New England extends the meaning "good-natured" to animals in the specific sense of "easily managed, docile." Perhaps it was the association with animals that gave rise to another meaning, "affable but not especially smart," applicable to people when used in old-fashioned New England dialects.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

cleverness
noun
1.	the power of creative imagination [syn: inventiveness]
2.	intelligence as manifested in being quick and witty [syn: brightness]
3.	the property of being ingenious; "a plot of great ingenuity"; "the cleverness of its design" [syn: ingenuity]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cleverness

Clev"er*ness\, n. The quality of being clever; skill; dexterity; adroitness.

Syn: See Ingenuity.

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