different between ingenious vs shifty
ingenious
English
Alternative forms
- engenious (obsolete)
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French ingénieux, from Old French engenious, from Latin ingeni?sus (“endowed with good natural capacity, gifted with genius”), from ingenium (“innate or natural quality, natural capacity, genius”), from in- (“in”) +? gignere (“to produce”), Old Latin genere. See also engine.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?n?d?i?nj?s/, /?n?d?i?ni?s/
- Rhymes: -i?ni?s
- Hyphenation: in?ge?nious
Adjective
ingenious (comparative more ingenious, superlative most ingenious)
- (of a person) Displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent.
- (of a thing) Characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived.
- Witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious.
Usage notes
Do not confuse with ingenuous.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:witty
- See also Thesaurus:intelligent
Related terms
Translations
References
- ingenious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- ingenious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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shifty
English
Etymology
shift +? -y
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /???fti/
Adjective
shifty (comparative shiftier, superlative shiftiest)
- Subject to frequent changes in direction.
- 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145,[2]
- Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.
- 2002, Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Last Crossing, New York: Grove, Chapter 17, p. 190,[3]
- The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady.
- 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145,[2]
- (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another, not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
- 1886, George Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, Chapter 3, in Littel’s Living Age, Volume 168, No. 2178, 20 March, 1886, p. 761,[4]
- […] his quick, shifty eyes turned from the manager to the lethal weapons over the chimney, then to the safe, then to the bank, and Mr. Thickens’s back.
- 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Head of Cæsar” in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London: Cassell, 1928, p. 149,[5]
- His tinted glasses were not really opaque, but of a blue kind common enough, nor were the eyes behind them shifty, but regarded me steadily.
- 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 1.4, p. 10,[6]
- He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite.
- 1886, George Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, Chapter 3, in Littel’s Living Age, Volume 168, No. 2178, 20 March, 1886, p. 761,[4]
- Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal or unreliable.
- He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
- 1999, J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, New York: Viking, Chapter 23, p. 208,[7]
- ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […] ’
- Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
- 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Cambridge: Macmillan, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 34,[8]
- Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.
- 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Cambridge: Macmillan, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 34,[8]
Derived terms
- shiftily
- shiftiness
- shifty-eyed
Translations
References
shifty From the web:
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