clever

 
Pronunciation: /ˈklɛvə/

adjective (cleverer, cleverest)

  • 1quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent: she was an extremely clever and studious young woman how clever of him to think of this!
  • skilled at doing or achieving something; talented: he was very clever at getting what he wanted both Grandma and Mother were clever with their hands
  • showing skill and originality; ingenious: a simple but clever idea for helping people learn computing he taught the dog to perform some very clever tricks
  • [usually with negative] informal sensible; well advised: Joe had a feeling it wasn’t too clever, leaving Dolly alone
  • 2 [predic., with negative] British informal healthy or well: I was up and about by this time though still not too clever

Phrases

too clever by half

informal (of a person) annoyingly proud of their intelligence or skill, and liable to overreach themselves: he always was too clever by half

Derivatives

cleverly

adverb

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'quick to catch hold', only recorded in this period): perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin, and related to cleave2. In the late 16th century the term came to mean (probably through dialect use) 'manually skilful'; the sense 'possessing mental agility' dates from the early 18th century