genius
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: jēniəs
enpr: jēnyəs
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒiː.ni.əs/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒin.jəs/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒi.ni.əs/
rhymes: -iːniəs
rhymes: -iːnjəs
Forms: form: geniuses
form: genii
Etymology: From Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin genō, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁-. Doublet of genio. See also genus.
Senses: examples: text: She's a genius; she won a Nobel Prize at fifteen!
text: Marx stand höher, sah weiter, überblickte mehr und rascher als wir andern alle. Marx war ein Genie, wir andern höchstens Talente.
ref: 1962 [1888, 1886], Friedrich Engels, chapter IV, in Ludwig Feuerbach und der Ausgang der klassischen deutschen Philosophie (Marx-Engels-Werke; 21), page 292; English translation from Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (Marx/Engels Collected Works; 26), translation of original in German, 1990, page 382:
antonyms: idiot
coordinate_terms: idiot savant
glosses: Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art, etc.
examples: text: Excuse, therefore, the shortcomings of genius under the sudorific influence of the summer solstice; for be assured that the vertical sun, however it may dulcify and mature cherries, plums, and other fruitful ‘plumpitudes,’ is by no means favorable to the development of intellectual products.
ref: 1853, Whirligig, quotee, edited by William Kidd, Kidd’s Own Journal; for Inter-Communications on Natural History, Popular Science, and Things in General, volume IV, number 8, London: William Spooner, […]; Richard Groombridge and Sons, […], page 124, column 2:
text: In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: Extraordinary mental capacity.
examples: text: a work of genius
text: to add a dash of cinnamon amid such umami was pure genius
glosses: Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.
examples: text: and the genius of the place: the growing enthusiasm for codified standards in the Army and Navy
ref: 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “the unseen genius of the wood”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:
text: We talk of genius still, but with thought how changed! The genius of Augustus was a tutelary demon, to be sworn by and to receive offerings on an altar as a deity.
ref: 1715, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive Culture:
text: An old sinner, in shape of a khansamah, is the genius of the place, and has rarely aught else to tempt the tired traveller with than a “sudden death”—a fowl caught running in the yard, and dished up forthwith; […]
ref: 1866, Frederick F. Wyman, From Calcutta to the Snowy Range, page 330:
topics: human-sciences
mysticism
mythology
philosophy
sciences
synonyms: word: tutelary deity
word: spirit
word: liqueur
word: liquor
word: apparition
word: specter
word: vision
glosses: The tutelary deity or spirit of a place or person.
Synonyms: word: brain
word: brain surgeon
word: brainbox
word: brainiac
word: deep thinker
word: Einstein
word: egghead
word: genius
word: intellectual
word: mind
word: rocket scientist
word: superbrain
word: thinker
Hypernyms: word: intelligent person
Hyponyms: word: boffin
word: dumb genius
word: Einsteinette
word: supergenius
Meronyms: word: intelligence
Derived terms: bonus genius
dumb genius
evil genius
geniocracy
Geniocracy
geniolatry
geniosity
genius familiae
genius hominis
geniuslike
genius loci
genius locorum
geniusness
malus genius
nongenius
scenius
stroke of genius
SubGenius
supergenius
ungenius
Related terms: word: sage
word: wise