AskDefine | Define clever

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Dictionary Definition

clever adj
1 skillful (or showing skill) in adapting means to ends; "cool prudence and sensitive selfishness along with quick perception of what is possible--these distinguish an adroit politician"; "came up with a clever story"; "an ingenious press agent"; "an ingenious scheme" [syn: adroit, ingenious]
2 showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others; "a cagey lawyer"; "too clever to be sound" [syn: cagey, cagy, canny]
3 mentally quick and resourceful; "an apt pupil"; "you are a clever man...you reason well and your wit is bold"-Bram Stoker [syn: apt]
4 showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious solution to the problem" [syn: cunning, ingenious]

User Contributed Dictionary

English

Pronunciation

Adjective

  1. mentally sharp or bright, witty; possessing quick or able intelligence
  2. nimble with hands or body
    • Though there were many clever men in England during the latter half of the seventeenth century, there were only two great creative minds.--Macaulay.
    • Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever.--C. Kingsley.
  3. superficially skillful, resourceful
  4. showing inventiveness or originality
  5. (Australian Aboriginal) possessing magical abilities
    • 1904, Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol. XXXVIII
      When a clever man is out hunting ... he ... talks to the footprints all the time for the purpose of injecting magic into the animal which made them.
    • 1947, Oceania, Vol. XVII
      The two women, who were ‘clever’, and possessed a certain amount of magical ‘power’, ...
    • 1991, John & Sue Erbacher, Aborigines of the Rainforest
      Fred is the clever fellow or tribal doctor who practises with the Kuku-Yalanji people. The tribal doctor’s work includes curing sickness, finding out the causes of death, predicting the future and making and stopping rain.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

mentally sharp or bright

Extensive Definition

Clever may refer to:

References

Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words

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