cleverness

clev·er  (klvr)

adj. clev·er·er, clev·er·est

1. Mentally quick and original; bright.

2. Nimble with the hands or body; dexterous.

3. Exhibiting quick-wittedness: a clever story.

4. New England Easily managed; docile: "Oxen must be pretty clever to be bossed around the way they are" (Dialect Notes).

5. New England Affable but not especially smart.

6. Chiefly Southern U.S. Good-natured; amiable. See Regional Note at ugly.

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[Middle English cliver; akin to East Frisian klifer, klüfer; see gleubh- in Indo-European roots.]

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clever·ly adv.

clever·ness n.

Synonyms: clever, ingenious, shrewd
These adjectives refer to mental adroitness or to practical ingenuity and skill. Clever is the most comprehensive: "Everybody's family doctor was remarkably clever, and was understood to have immeasurable skill in the management and training of the most skittish or vicious diseases" (George Eliot).
Ingenious implies originality and inventiveness: "an ingenious solution to the storage problem" (Linda Greider).
Shrewd emphasizes mental astuteness and practical understanding: "a woman of shrewd intellect" (Leslie Stephen).

Regional Note: In the 17th and 18th centuries, in addition to its basic sense of "able to use the brain readily and effectively," the word clever acquired a constellation of imprecise but generally positive senses in regional British speech: "clean-limbed and handsome," "neat and convenient to use," and "of an agreeable disposition." Some of these British regional senses, brought over when America was colonized, are still found in American regional speech, as in the South, where clever can mean "good-natured, amiable" in old-fashioned speech. The speech of New England extends the meaning "good-natured" to animals in the specific sense of "easily managed, docile." Perhaps it was the association with animals that gave rise to another meaning, "affable but not especially smart," applicable to people when used in old-fashioned New England dialects.

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Cleverness 

See Also: ALERTNESS

1. Adroit as a rhinoceros —Franklin P. Adams
2. Brains like the frogs, dispersed all over his body —Charles Dickens
3. Clever as a bird-dog —American colloquialism, attributed to New England
4. Clever as sin —Rudyard Kipling
5. Crafty as a new religious convert pledged to win over a sinner —Gloria Norris
6. Crafty as an exorcist —Miles Gibson
7. Crafty as the sea —W. B. Yeats
8. Cunning as a dead pig, but not half so honest —Jonathan Swift
9. Cunning is a sort of short-sightedness —Joseph Addison
10. Has as many tricks as a bear —John Ray’s Proverbs
11. Hinted with the delicacy of a lilac bud —Sinclair Lewis
12. Ingenious as magicians —Delmore Schwartz
13. Like rats, his wits were beginning to busy themselves again —Walter De La Mare
14. Little clevernesses are like half-ripened plums, only good eating on the side that has had a glimpse of the sun —Henry James
15. Played on his misfortune as on a cello —Marguerite Yourcenar
16. Sharp and bright as a blade of sunlight —Alice Walker
17. Sharp as a cut-throat razor —Donald Seaman
18. Sharp as a knife —American colloquialism, attributed to New England

    An equally popular variation, also attributed to New England folklore: “Sharp as a razor.”

19. Sharp as a needle —Anon

    Common usage has made this interchangeable with “Sharp as a pin.” A variation of more recent vintage, “Sharp as a tack,” has become a cliche in its own right.

20. Sharp as mustard —Ogden Nash

    In Nash’s poem, The Tale of the Custard Dragon, the descriptive frame of reference is a little dog.

21. Shrewd as a barrel-load of monkeys —Robin Sheiner
22. Shrewd as a sparrow —Janet Flanner
23. Shrewdness is often annoying, like a lamp in the bedroom —Ludwig Boerne
24. Sly and slick as a varmint —Robert Penn Warren
25. (Every move had been as stealthy and as) sly as a hungry coyote —William Humphrey
26. Smart as a whip —Anon

    Used to the point of abuse since the seventeenth century. A variation in keeping with the phrase’s origin in the smarting pain caused by a whip: “Sharp as a whiplash.”

27. Smart as new nails —Sharon Sheehe Stark
28. Tricky as palmistry —Karl Shapiro
29. Wily as a fox —John Clarke

    The fox continues to be a favorite link to clever, crafty behavior. Often ‘cunning’ is substituted for ‘wiley’, and the fox is not just any fox but “An old one.”

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	cleverness - the power of creative imagination     ingeniousness, ingenuity, inventiveness creative thinking, creativeness, creativity - the ability to create resourcefulness, imagination, resource - the ability to deal resourcefully with unusual problems; "a man of resource"
	2.	cleverness - intelligence as manifested in being quick and witty brightness, smartness intelligence - the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience
	3.	cleverness - the property of being ingenious; "a plot of great ingenuity"; "the cleverness of its design" ingeniousness, ingenuity high quality, superiority - the quality of being superior

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cleverness

noun

1. intelligence, sense, brains, wit, brightness, nous (Brit. slang), suss (slang), quickness, gumption (Brit. informal), sagacity, smartness, astuteness, quick wits, smarts (slang, chiefly U.S.) He congratulated himself on his cleverness.

2. shrewdness, sharpness, resourcefulness, canniness a policy almost Machiavellian in its cleverness

3. dexterity, ability, talent, gift, flair, ingenuity, adroitness The artist demonstrates a cleverness with colours and textures.

Translations

cleverness [ˈklevənɪs] N

1. (= intelligence) → inteligencia f

2. (= skill) → habilidad f

3. (= ingenuity) → ingenio m

4. (= astuteness) [of person] → astucia f, maña f; [of trick, technique, plan] → lo ingenioso

cleverness [ˈklɛvə^rnɪs] n [person] → intelligence f

cleverness

n

(= intelligence) → Schlauheit f; (of animal also) → Klugheit f

(= skill, ingenuity) → Klugheit f; (of person, move in chess also) → Geschicktheit f; (of idea) → Schlauheit f; (of device, machine) → Raffiniertheit f

(= cunning) → Schläue pl, → Cleverness f

cleverness [ˈklɛvənɪs] n (intelligence) → intelligenza; (deftness) → abilità; (ingenuity) → genialità