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clever

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Clever

English

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Etymology

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FromEast Anglian dialectal Englishcliver(“expert at seizing”), fromMiddle Englishcliver(“tenacious”).

Related tocleave. Perhaps influenced byWelshcelfydd(“talented, dexterous, expert”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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clever (comparativeclevererormoreclever,superlativecleverestormostclever)

  1. Nimble with hands or body; dexterous;skillful;adept.
    My dad is quiteclever with his hands, especially at carpentry.
  2. Quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas;intelligent.
    • 2008 August 28, “German recreation: An affinity for rules?”, inThe Economist‎[1], archived fromthe original on2 February 2021:
      Thecleverest and most prolific inventors, such as Reiner Knizia (who lives in England) are nerdy superstars. Euro (also “German-style”) games must not be confused with “Ameritrash” games, which generally involve high drama and employ plastic pieces, though arguing over what the difference is seems to be gamers' second-favourite pastime.
  3. Mentally quick andresourceful; skilled at achieving what one wants in a mentally agile and inventive way.
    clever like a fox
    With aclever lawyer, she could easily be acquitted.
    • 1890,Joseph Jacobs (collator),Molly Whuppie,English Fairy Tales,
      The youngest of the three strange lassies was called Molly Whuppie, and she was veryclever. She noticed that before they went to bed the giant put straw ropes round her neck and her sisters', and round his own lassies' necks, he put gold chains. So Molly took care and did not fall asleep, but waited till she was sure every one was sleeping sound. Then she slipped out of the bed, and took the straw ropes off her own and her sisters' necks, and took the gold chains off the giant's lassies. She then put the straw ropes on the giant's lassies and the gold on herself and her sisters, and lay down.
  4. Smart,intelligent, orwitty; mentallyquick orsharp.
    • 19th c,Charles Kingsley,A Farewell,
      Be good, sweet maid, and let who will beclever;
      Do noble things, not dream them all day long:
      And so make life, death, and that vast forever / One grand, sweet song.
    • 1860,John Timbs,School-Days of Eminent Men‎[2], page177:
      Lord Macaulay has said of Bunyan: “though there were manyclever men in England during the latter half of the seventeenth century, there were only two great creative minds. One of these minds produced ‘The Paradise Lost;’ the other, ‘The Pilgrim's Progress.’”
    • 1912,Fyodor Dostoevsky,Constance Garnett (translator),The Brothers Karamazov, Book V, Chapter 7: "It's Always Worth While Speaking to aClever Man",
      I would have sent Alyosha, but what use is Alyosha in a thing like that? I send you just because you are aclever fellow. Do you suppose I don't see that? You know nothing about timber, but you've got an eye.
  5. (archaic)Sane; in one's right mind.
    • 1892, Margaret Oliphant,The Heir Presumptive and the Heir Apparent, page263:
      He was notclever, poor fellow, he did not know what questions to ask; he asked the same questions again and again. He continued to show his own troubled thoughts, and the vague dread in his mind,[…]
  6. (of objects or actions) Showing mental quickness and resourcefulness.
    This is a simple butclever trick to solve the problem.
    • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, inThe Economist, volume407, number8841, page70:
      Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
  7. (of objects or actions) Showinginventiveness ororiginality;witty.
    • 1816,Jane Austen, chapter 9, inEmma, volume 1:
      Mr. Woodhouse was almost as much interested in the business as the girls, and tried very often to recollect something worth their putting in. "So manyclever riddles as there used to be when he was young--he wondered he could not remember them! but he hoped he should in time." And it always ended in "Kitty, a fair but frozen maid."
    • 1919,William Somerset Maugham, chapter III, inThe Moon and Sixpence:
      I felt they expected me to sayclever things, and I never could think of any till after the party was over.
    • 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle”, inBBC Sport:
      Just before the break Villa were denied a second goal when Bent had the ball in the net, although he was ruled offside after Jean Makoun'sclever pass.
    • 2014 April 11,Ron Charles, “David Grand’s ‘Mount Terminus’”, inThe Guardian Weekly, volume190, number18, page37:
      The Rosenbloom Loop is aclever little device, but it’s an even moreclever symbol of the role that discipline plays in the creation of illusion: the persistence of vision that makes sequential still images appear to move.
  8. (UK, colloquial, chiefly in the negative) Fit and healthy; free from fatigue or illness.
    • 2010, Colin Ross,Death of the Docks, page196:
      But at that moment I knew it was all over for me, I had never thought that this day would come, but it had and I was not feeling tooclever. In fact I had to escape to a nearby toilet to be sick.
    • 2019, Neil Forsyth, 30:07 from the start, inGuilt, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Jake McCall (Jamie Sives):
      Right, and no, because the solicitor has told her that Walter's legs didn't look tooclever, which, apparently, everyone's putting down to a fall, thankfully.
  9. (US, dated)Good-natured;obliging.
  10. (anthropology, of an Aboriginal Australian) Possessingmagical abilities.
    • 1904,Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, volume XXXVIII,page255:
      When aclever man is out hunting and comes across the tracks of, say, a kangaroo, he follows them along and talks to the footprints all the time for the purpose of injecting magic into the animal which made them.
    • 1947,Oceania,, volumes16-17,page330:
      Prior to this, the two women, who were “clever,” and possessed a certain amount of magical “power,”[…].
    • 1991, John & Sue Erbacher,Aborigines of the Rainforest:
      Fred is theclever 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.
  11. (obsolete)Fit;suitable; havingpropriety.
  12. (obsolete) Well-shaped;handsome.
    • 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym;John Arbuthnot], “The Character of John Bull’s Sister Peg, with the Quarrels that Happen’d between Master and Miss, in Their Childhood”, inJohn Bull Still in His Senses: Being the Third Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […],→OCLC,page10:
      Tho' the Girl vvas a tight,clever VVench as any vvas, and thro' her pale Looks, you might diſcern Spirit and Vivacity, vvhich made her not indeed a perfect Beauty, but ſomething that vvas agreeable.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of“smart, intelligent or witty”):dull,stupid
  • (antonym(s) of“resourceful, perhaps cunning”):ineffectual,naive
  • (antonym(s) of“nimble or skillful”):clumsy
  • (antonym(s) of“showing inventiveness”):
  • (antonym(s) of“possessing magical powers”):natural

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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nimble with hands or body
skillful
resourceful, sometimes to the point of cunning
mentally quick or sharp
things showing inventiveness or originality
possessing magical abilities
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading

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“clever”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.

References

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  1. ^Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “clever”, inOnline Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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German

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Etymology

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Borrowed fromEnglishclever.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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clever (strong nominative masculine singularcleverer,comparativeclevererorclevrer,superlativeamcleversten)

  1. clever

Declension

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Positive forms ofclever
number & gendersingularplural
masculinefeminineneuter
predicativeeristcleversieistcleveresistcleversiesindclever
strong declension
(without article)		nominativecleverercleverecleveresclevere
genitivecleverencleverercleverencleverer
dativecleveremcleverercleveremcleveren
accusativecleverencleverecleveresclevere
weak declension
(with definite article)		nominativedercleverediecleveredascleverediecleveren
genitivedescleverendercleverendescleverendercleveren
dativedemcleverendercleverendemcleverendencleveren
accusativedencleverendiecleveredascleverediecleveren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		nominativeeincleverereineclevereeincleveres(keine)cleveren
genitiveeinesclevereneinerclevereneinescleveren(keiner)cleveren
dativeeinemclevereneinerclevereneinemcleveren(keinen)cleveren
accusativeeinenclevereneineclevereeincleveres(keine)cleveren
Comparative forms ofclever
number & gendersingularplural
masculinefeminineneuter
predicativeeristcleverer
eristclevrer		sieistcleverer
sieistclevrer		esistcleverer
esistclevrer		siesindcleverer
siesindclevrer
strong declension
(without article)		nominativeclevererer
clevrerer		cleverere
clevrere		clevereres
clevreres		cleverere
clevrere
genitiveclevereren
clevreren		clevererer
clevrerer		clevereren
clevreren		clevererer
clevrerer
dativeclevererem
clevrerem		clevererer
clevrerer		clevererem
clevrerem		clevereren
clevreren
accusativeclevereren
clevreren		cleverere
clevrere		clevereres
clevreres		cleverere
clevrere
weak declension
(with definite article)		nominativedercleverere
derclevrere		diecleverere
dieclevrere		dascleverere
dasclevrere		dieclevereren
dieclevreren
genitivedesclevereren
desclevreren		derclevereren
derclevreren		desclevereren
desclevreren		derclevereren
derclevreren
dativedemclevereren
demclevreren		derclevereren
derclevreren		demclevereren
demclevreren		denclevereren
denclevreren
accusativedenclevereren
denclevreren		diecleverere
dieclevrere		dascleverere
dasclevrere		dieclevereren
dieclevreren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		nominativeeinclevererer
einclevrerer		einecleverere
eineclevrere		einclevereres
einclevreres		(keine)clevereren
(keine)clevreren
genitiveeinesclevereren
einesclevreren		einerclevereren
einerclevreren		einesclevereren
einesclevreren		(keiner)clevereren
(keiner)clevreren
dativeeinemclevereren
einemclevreren		einerclevereren
einerclevreren		einemclevereren
einemclevreren		(keinen)clevereren
(keinen)clevreren
accusativeeinenclevereren
einenclevreren		einecleverere
eineclevrere		einclevereres
einclevreres		(keine)clevereren
(keine)clevreren
Superlative forms ofclever
number & gendersingularplural
masculinefeminineneuter
predicativeeristamcleverstensieistamcleverstenesistamcleverstensiesindamcleversten
strong declension
(without article)		nominativecleverstercleverstecleverstescleverste
genitivecleverstencleverstercleverstencleverster
dativecleverstemcleverstercleverstemcleversten
accusativecleverstencleverstecleverstescleverste
weak declension
(with definite article)		nominativedercleverstediecleverstedascleverstediecleversten
genitivedescleverstendercleverstendescleverstendercleversten
dativedemcleverstendercleverstendemcleverstendencleversten
accusativedencleverstendiecleverstedascleverstediecleversten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		nominativeeincleverstereinecleversteeincleverstes(keine)cleversten
genitiveeinescleversteneinercleversteneinescleversten(keiner)cleversten
dativeeinemcleversteneinercleversteneinemcleversten(keinen)cleversten
accusativeeinencleversteneinecleversteeincleverstes(keine)cleversten

Further reading

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  • “clever” inDuden online
  • “clever” inDigitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Middle English

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Noun

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clever

  1. alternative form ofclevere
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