different between clever vs efficient

English

Etymology

From East Anglian dialectal English cliver (“expert at seizing”), from Middle English cliver (“tenacious”), perhaps from Old English *clifer, clibbor (“clinging”), or perhaps from East Frisian (compare Saterland Frisian kluftich), or dialectal Norwegian klover (“ready, skillful”); possibly influenced by Old English clifer (“claw, hand”). Related to cleave. Perhaps influenced by Welsh celfydd (“talented, dexterous, expert”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?kl?v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(r)
• Hyphenation: clev?er

Adjective

clever (comparative cleverer or more clever, superlative cleverest or most clever)

1. Nimble with hands or body; skillful; adept.
   • a. 1898, Francis James Child (collator), Child's Ballads, 198: "Bonny John Seton",

     The Highland men, they're clever men / At handling sword and shield,

2. Resourceful, sometimes to the point of cunning.
   • 1890, Joseph Jacobs (collator), Molly Whuppie, English Fairy Tales,

     The youngest of the three strange lassies was called Molly Whuppie, and she was very clever. 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.
3. Smart, intelligent, or witty; mentally quick or sharp.
   • 19th c, Charles Kingsley, A Farewell,

     Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; / Do noble things, not dream them all day long: / And so make life, death, and that vast forever / One grand, sweet song.

   • 1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett (translator), The Brothers Karamazov, Book V, Chapter 7: "It's Always Worth While Speaking to a Clever Man",

     I would have sent Alyosha, but what use is Alyosha in a thing like that? I send you just because you are a clever fellow. Do you suppose I don't see that? You know nothing about timber, but you've got an eye.

4. Showing inventiveness or originality; witty.
5. (anthropology, of an Aboriginal Australian) Possessing magical abilities.
   • 1904, Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol. XXXVIII, page 255,

     When a clever 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, Volumes 16-17, page 330,

     Prior to this, the two women, who were “clever,” and possessed a certain amount of magical “power,” […] .
6. (obsolete) Fit; suitable; having propriety.
   • 18th c, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope (later lines), Imitation of Horace, 1852, Charles Knight (collator), Half-hours with the Best Authors, Volume 4, page 188,

     I can't but think 'twould sound more clever, / To me and to my heirs forever.

7. (obsolete) Well-shaped; handsome.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull, Undated modern edition, Library of Alexandria, unnumbered page,

     The girl was a tight, clever wench as any was.

8. (US, dated) Good-natured; obliging.
9. (Britain, colloquial) Fit and healthy; free from fatigue or illness.

Synonyms

• (smart, intelligent or witty): quick-witted, sharp-witted
  • See also Thesaurus:intelligent
• (resourceful, perhaps cunning): cunning, street-smart
• (nimble or skillful): adroit, talented
• (showing inventiveness): ingenious
• (possessing magical powers): magical

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• clever in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• clever in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• clever at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Clerve

German

Etymology

From English clever.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?kl?v?]
• Hyphenation: cle?ver

Adjective

clever (comparative cleverer or clevrer, superlative am cleversten)

1. clever

Declension

Further reading

• “clever” in Duden online

Middle English

Noun

clever

1. Alternative form of clevere

English

Etymology

1398, “making,” from Old French, from Latin efficientem, nominative effici?ns, participle of efficere (“work out, accomplish”) (see effect). Meaning “productive, skilled” is from 1787. Efficiency apartment is first recorded 1930, American English.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??f???nt/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /??f???nt/
• Rhymes: -???nt

Adjective

efficient (comparative more efficient, superlative most efficient)

1. making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy

2. expressing the proportion of consumed energy that was successfully used in a process; the ratio of useful output to total input

3. causing effects, producing results; bringing into being; initiating change (rare except in philosophical and legal expression efficient cause = causative factor or agent)

   • It was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient.

4. (proscribed, old use) effective
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer:

     Ye wake no more to anguish;? ye have borne
     The Chosen, the Destroyer!? soon his hand
     Shall strike the efficient blow;
     Soon shaking off your penal forms, shall ye,
     With songs of joy, amid the Eden groves,
     Hymn the Deliverer’s praise!

   • 1856, William Dexter Wilson, An Elementary Treatise on Logic

     The Efficient Cause is that from which emanates the force that produces the Effect

Usage notes

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary from 1913 still lists efficient and effective as synonyms, but all major dictionaries now show that these words now only have different meanings in careful use. Use of both for the other meaning is however widespread enough that Longman's Exam Dictionary, for example, finds it necessary to proscribe the use of one for the other with several examples at each entry and provides the following summary:

• efficient (“working quickly and without waste”)
• effective (“having the desired effect”)

Antonyms

• inefficient

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

efficient (plural efficients)

1. (obsolete) a cause; something that causes an effect
   • 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, I.14:

     Some are without efficient, as God; others without matter, as Angels […].

   • a. 1758, Jonathan Edwards, Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity

     This implies, that something happens without a cause. If it should be said, that motive in this case is not the efficient of the action or doing — this is granted; but at the same time, for reasons already given, it is denied, that the man himself is the efficient cause of it.

References

Danish

Adjective

efficient

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Inflection

Further reading

• “efficient” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

From Latin effici?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fi.sj??/
• Homophone: efficients

Adjective

efficient (feminine singular efficiente, masculine plural efficients, feminine plural efficientes)

1. efficient
2. effective

Related terms

• efficience

Further reading

• “efficient” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ef?fi.ki.ent/, [?f?f?ki?n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ef?fi.t??i.ent/, [?f?fi?t??i?n?t?]

Verb

efficient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of effici?