ingenuity

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“
He understands the factors that are burdening the country, the federal deficit, the consumer debt, the infrastructure spending that we're going to have to do, but he has a belief in American ingenuity which over the long term has enabled our country to solve problems that seemed insurmountable in the past.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun Inventive skill or imagination; cleverness.
  2. noun Imaginative and clever design or construction: a narrative plot of great ingenuity.
  3. noun An ingenious or imaginative contrivance.
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Examples (50)

  • We should have found some exercise for our ingenuity, and some object about which to interest ourselves, in plans and stratagems for eking out our short allowance by the aid of theft. —  The White Slave; or, Memoirs of a Fugitive
  • Human problems may crumble before human ingenuity, which is always at first a small thing of thoughts and words, dreams and mistakes. —  F ;SF - vol 098 issue 04 - April 2000
  • Another possibility is the integration of hardware into our neural networks for boosting cognitive computations, telepathic communications, or to remotely turn your tv on and off -- ingenuity or an indolent's paradise, I wonder ... —  Progressive U - The new media voice for students
  • In many ways these covers are a perfect microcosm of Carter's ingenuity, which is surprising in its conventionality, desire for experimentation and uncanny ability to shift back and forth between the two to create a world of stunning contrasts. —  Daily Vanguard RSS
  • Tim is also a believer in American ingenuity and knows that products like Patch will help deliver a commercially viable way for communities to support the important work of local journalists, institutions, governments, and businesses. —  AGORAVOX - The Citizen Media
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

tact ·  cleverness ·  perseverance ·  originality ·  subtlety ·  dexterity ·  vigour ·  boldness ·  simplicity ·  patience ·  insight ·  eloquence
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin ingenuitās, frankness (influenced by ingenious), from ingenuus, ingenuous; see ingenuous.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French ingénuité = Spanish ingenuidad = Portuguese ingenuidade = Italian ingenuità, ingenuity, cleverness, from Latin ingenuita(t-)s, the condition or character of a free-born man, frankness, from ingenuus, native, free-born: see ingenuous. The senses are in part (2, 3) dependent on the related adjective ingenious.
 

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/ɪndʒəˈnjuəti/
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