ingenuity

English

Etymology

From Latin ingenuitās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnd͡ʒəˈn(j)uːəti/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

ingenuity (usually uncountable, plural ingenuities)

1. 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.

2. (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

• Yankee ingenuity

Related terms

• ingenious
• ingenuous

Translations

ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems

• Bulgarian: изобретателност (bg) (izobretatelnost)
• Catalan: enginy (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發明才能 / 发明才能 (fāmíng cáinéng), 創造力 / 创造力 (zh) (chuàngzàolì)

• Danish: snedighed
• Dutch: vernuft (nl) n
• Finnish: nerokkuus (fi), nokkeluus (fi), kekseliäisyys (fi)
• French: ingéniosité (fr) f
• Galician: enxeño m
• German: Einfallsreichtum (de) m, Findigkeit (de) f, Raffinesse (de) f, Scharfsinn (de) m
• Hungarian: találékonyság (hu), leleményesség (hu)
• Interlingua: ingenio, ingeniositate
• Italian: ingegnosità (it), ingegno (it) m
• Japanese: 独創性 (どくそうせい, dokusōsei)
• Macedonian: генија́лност f (genijálnost)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kløkt (no) m, oppfinnsomhet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: kløkt f

• Old Czech: chytř f
• Ottoman Turkish: صنعت (sanʼat, zanʼat), هنر (hüner)
• Portuguese: engenhosidade f
• Romanian: ingeniozitate (ro) f, îndemânare (ro) f
• Russian: нахо́дчивость (ru) f (naxódčivostʹ), изобрета́тельность (ru) f (izobretátelʹnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-ghnàth m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: инвенти́вно̄ст f

  Roman: inventívnōst (sh) f

• Slovak: vynaliezavosť f
• Spanish: ingenio (es) m, ingeniosidad (es) f
• Swedish: fyndighet (sv) c, sinnrikhet (sv) c, genialitet (sv) c
• Turkish: beceri (tr), hüner (tr), marifet (tr), ustalık (tr)

See also

• industriousness

Anagrams

• genuinity