ingenuity
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin ingenuitās.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]ingenuity (usually uncountable, plural ingenuities)
- The ability to solve difficult problems in original, clever, and inventive ways; ingeniousness.
- 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.
- (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
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
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[edit]Anagrams
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- en:Thinking