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ingenuity - 4 dictionary results
in⋅ge⋅nu⋅i⋅ty
[in-juh-noo-i-tee, -nyoo-] 
dʒəˈnu
–noun, plural -ties for 3.
| 1. | the quality of being cleverly inventive or resourceful; inventiveness: a designer of great ingenuity. |
| 2. | cleverness or skillfulness of conception or design: a device of great ingenuity. |
| 3. | an ingenious contrivance or device. |
| 4. | Obsolete. ingenuousness. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To ingenuity
| in·ge·nu·i·ty (ĭn'jə-nōō'ĭ-tē, -nyōō'-) n. pl. in·ge·nu·i·ties
[Latin ingenuitās, frankness (influenced by ingenious), from ingenuus, ingenuous; see ingenuous.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Ingenuity
In`ge*nu"i*ty\, n. [L. ingenuitas ingenuousness: cf. F. ing['e]nuit['e]. See Ingenuous.]1. The quality or power of ready invention; quickness or acuteness in forming new combinations; ingeniousness; skill in devising or combining. All the means which human ingenuity has contrived. --Blair. 2. Curiousness, or cleverness in design or contrivance; as, the ingenuity of a plan, or of mechanism. He gives . . . To artist ingenuity and skill. --Cowper. 3. Openness of heart; ingenuousness. [Obs.] The stings and remorses of natural ingenuity, a principle that men scarcely ever shake off, as long as they carry anything of human nature about them. --South. Syn: Inventiveness; ingeniousness; skill; cunning; cleverness; genius. Usage: Ingenuity, Cleverness. Ingenuity is a form of genius, and cleverness of talent. The former implies invention, the letter a peculiar dexterity and readiness of execution. Sir James Mackintosh remarks that the English overdo in the use of the word clever and cleverness, applying them loosely to almost every form of intellectual ability.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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ingenuity
1598, "honor, nobility," from L. ingenuitas "condtion of a free-born man, noble-mindedness," from ingenuus (see ingenuous). Etymologically, this word belongs to ingenuous, though it was so constantly confused in meaning with ingenious (q.v.) in 17c. that its form and sense now partake of that word, and with the meaning "capacity for invention or construction" (first attested 1649).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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