Standard Lemma guide

ingenuity

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌɪnd͡ʒəˈn(j)uːəti/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N JH AH0 N UW1 AH0 T IY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The ability to solve difficult problems in original, clever, and inventive ways; ingeniousness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • The pyramids demonstrate the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians.
  • Poverty is the mother of ingenuity.
  • Ingenuity is one of the characteristics of a beaver.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An ingenuous action or thought.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Ingenuousness; honesty, straightforwardness

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the property of being ingenious

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a plot of great ingenuity
  • the cleverness of its design

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ingeniousness, cleverness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: superiority, high quality

5

noun

Meaning 5

the power of creative imagination

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: inventiveness, ingeniousness, cleverness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: creativity, creativeness, creative thinking

Narrower terms: resource, resourcefulness, imagination

History

Etymology

From Latin ingenuitās.

Across languages

Translations

49 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: изобретателност (izobretatelnost) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Catalan: enginy — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Chinese Mandarin: 發明才能 /发明才能 (fāmíng cáinéng) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Chinese Mandarin: 創造力 /创造力 (chuàngzàolì) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Old Czech: chytř — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Danish: snedighed — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Dutch: vernuft — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Finnish: nerokkuus — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Finnish: nokkeluus — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Finnish: kekseliäisyys — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • French: ingéniosité — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Galician: enxeño — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • German: Einfallsreichtum — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • German: Findigkeit — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • German: Raffinesse — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • German: Scharfsinn — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Hungarian: találékonyság — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Hungarian: leleményesség — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Interlingua: ingenio — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Interlingua: ingeniositate — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Italian: ingegnosità — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Italian: ingegno — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Japanese: 独創性 (dokusōsei) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Kazakh: тапқырлық (tapqyrlyq) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Kazakh: жасампаздық (jasampazdyq) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Macedonian: генија́лност (genijálnost) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kløkt — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oppfinnsomhet — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kløkt — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Portuguese: engenhosidade — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Romanian: ingeniozitate — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Romanian: îndemânare — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Russian: нахо́дчивость (naxódčivostʹ) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Russian: изобрета́тельность (izobretátelʹnostʹ) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Scottish Gaelic: eadar-ghnàth — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Serbo-Croatian: инвенти́вно̄ст — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Serbo-Croatian: inventívnōst — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Slovak: vynaliezavosť — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Spanish: ingenio — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Spanish: ingeniosidad — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Swedish: fyndighet — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Swedish: sinnrikhet — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Swedish: genialitet — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Turkish: beceri — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Turkish: hüner — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Turkish: marifet — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Turkish: ustalık — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Ottoman Turkish: صنعت (sanʼat, zanʼat) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems
  • Ottoman Turkish: هنر (hüner) — ability to come up with solutions to difficult problems