genius

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Extraordinary intellectual and creative power.
2. n. A person of extraordinary intellect and talent: "One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius” ( Simone de Beauvoir).
3. n. A person who has an exceptionally high intelligence quotient, typically above 140.
4. n. A strong natural talent, aptitude, or inclination: has a genius for choosing the right words.
5. n. One who has such a talent or inclination: a genius at diplomacy.
6. n. The prevailing spirit or distinctive character, as of a place, a person, or an era: the genius of Elizabethan England.
7. n. Roman Mythology A tutelary deity or guardian spirit of a person or place.
8. n. A person who has great influence over another.
9. n. A jinni in Muslim mythology.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The ruling or predominant spirit of a place, person, or thing; the power, principle, or influence that determines character, conduct, or destiny (supposed by the ancients to be a tutelar divinity, a good spirit, or an evil demon, usually striving with an opposing spirit for the mastery); that which controls, guides, or aids: as, my good genius came to the rescue; his evil genius enticed him.
2. n. A disembodied spirit regarded as affecting human beings in certain ways, but not as connected with any one individually.
3. n. A type or symbol; a concrete representative, as of an influence or a characteristic; a generic exemplification.
4. n. Prevailing spirit or inclination; distinguishing proclivity, bent, or tendency, as of a person, place, time, institution, etc.; special aptitude or intellectual quality; intrinsic characteristic or qualification: as, a genius for poetry, or for diplomacy; the genius of Christianity, of the Elizabethan period, of the American Constitution, of the Vatican.
5. n. Exalted mental power distinguished by instinctive aptitude, and independent of tuition; phenomenal capability, derived from inspiration or exaltation, for intellectual creation or expression; that constitution of mind or perfection of faculties which enables a person to excel others in mental perception, comprehension, discrimination, and expression, especially in literature, art, and science.
6. n. A person having such mental power; a person of general or special intellectual faculties developed in a phenomenal degree.

Wiktionary

1. n. Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.
2. n. Extraordinary mental capacity.
3. n. inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.
4. n. Roman mythology The guardian spirit of a place or person.
5. n. A way of thinking, optimizing one's capacity for learning and understanding.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A good or evil spirit, or demon, supposed by the ancients to preside over a man's destiny in life; a tutelary deity; a supernatural being; a spirit, good or bad. Cf. jinnee.
2. n. The peculiar structure of mind with which each individual is endowed by nature; that disposition or aptitude of mind which is peculiar to each man, and which qualifies him for certain kinds of action or special success in any pursuit; special taste, inclination, or disposition.
3. n. Peculiar character; animating spirit, as of a nation, a religion, a language.
4. n. Distinguished mental superiority; uncommon intellectual power; especially, superior power of invention or origination of any kind, or of forming new combinations.
5. n. A man endowed with uncommon vigor of mind; a man of superior intellectual faculties and creativity.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a natural talent
2. n. someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
3. n. exceptional creative ability
4. n. unusual mental ability
5. n. someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality