INGENIOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ingenious mean? 

• INGENIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective INGENIOUS has 1 sense:

1. showing inventiveness and skill

  Familiarity information: INGENIOUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INGENIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Showing inventiveness and skill

Synonyms:

clever; cunning; ingenious

Context example:

an ingenious solution to the problem

Similar:

adroit (quick or skillful or adept in action or thought)

Derivation:

ingeniousness (the property of being ingenious)

ingenuity (the power of creative imagination)

 Context examples 

His last whim had been to bring with him on his weekly visits some new, useful, and ingenious article for the young housekeeper.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If so, it must have been one of those ingenious secret codes which mean one thing while they seem to mean another.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It's an ingenious thing, ain't it?” he inquired, following the direction of my glance, and polishing the elbow with his arm.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Was it possible that in this age of ingenious manipulation photographs could be accepted as evidence?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The method was no doubt suggested to Clay’s ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplice’s hair.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a most ingenious doctor, who seemed to be perfectly versed in the whole nature and system of government.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A little thing, truly, but when multiplied by the thousand ingenious devices of such a mind, the mental state of the men in the forecastle may be slightly comprehended.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But on returning to the drawing-room, when her letter was finished, she saw, to her infinite surprise, there was reason to fear that her mother had been too ingenious for her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Six foot three in height, active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers, finally, remarkably quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his concoction.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Still, however, though every thing had not been accomplished by her ingenious device, she could not but flatter herself that it had been the occasion of much present enjoyment to both, and must be leading them forward to the great event.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)