Meaning & use
clever ideas
Last updated
UK/ˌklev.ər aɪˈdɪəz/
US/ˌklev.ɚ aɪˈdiː.əz/
Meaning
nounplural
Smart and original thoughts or plans that show quick intelligence and creativity.
Grammar: Plural of 'clever idea'; use with plural verbs: 'Clever ideas often come from teamwork.'
Patterns
- come up with clever ideas
- have clever ideas
- a lot of clever ideas
She always comes up with clever ideas for saving money.
The team shared some clever ideas for the new product.
His clever ideas made the project much easier.
Common combinations
- come up with clever ideas
- We need to come up with clever ideas to attract more customers.
- a lot of clever ideas
- There were a lot of clever ideas in the meeting.
- share clever ideas
- The teacher encouraged students to share their clever ideas.
- full of clever ideas
- Her notebook is full of clever ideas for stories.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bright ideas
- 'Bright ideas' often suggests sudden inspiration and is sometimes used ironically, while 'clever ideas' emphasizes intelligence and originality.
- smart solutions
- This focuses on answers to problems rather than the ideas themselves; you can have clever ideas that are not yet solutions.
Opposites
stupid ideasdull ideas
Practice
Which sentence uses 'clever ideas' naturally?
Choose one answer.
'Clever ideas' is plural, so it does not take 'a' or 'many' with a singular form. Option 1 uses 'a' with a plural, option 3 uses 'some' with a singular, and option 4 uses 'many' with a singular noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “clever ideas”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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