ingenuity
noun /ˌɪndʒəˈnjuːəti/
/ˌɪndʒəˈnuːəti/
[uncountable]- the ability to invent things or solve problems in clever new ways synonym inventiveness
- The problem tested the ingenuity of even the most imaginative students.
Extra ExamplesTopics Personal qualitiesc2- Getting out of this mess was going to require a fair degree of ingenuity.
- It didn't take much ingenuity to transform the door into a table.
- The children showed a lot of ingenuity.
- There is always a solution, so long as you are prepared to use your ingenuity.
- They adapted the available materials with great ingenuity.
- We have to admire his ingenuity in redesigning the machinery.
- someone who has the ingenuity to solve problems
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- considerable
- great
- a little
- …
- amount
- degree
- have
- use
- demonstrate
- …
- with ingenuity
- ingenuity in
Word Originlate 16th cent. (also in the senses ‘nobility’ and ‘ingenuousness’): from Latin ingenuitas ‘ingenuousness’, from ingenuus ‘inborn’. The current meaning arose by confusion of ingenuous with ingenious.