Meaning & use
ingenuitive
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Meaning
adjectivecomparablerare
Clever and inventive at finding new ways to solve problems; a nonstandard form that careful writers replace with ingenious.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be, like ingenious: an ingenuitive design, but standard English prefers ingenious.
Patterns
- ingenuitive at something
- an ingenuitive solution
Her ingenuitive repair kept the old bicycle running for another ten years.
Critics praised the architect's ingenuitive use of limited space, although an editor would change the word to ingenious.
The students came up with an ingenuitive way to cool the room without electricity.
Common combinations
- ingenuitive solution
- The team's ingenuitive solution saved the project from missing its deadline.
- ingenuitive design
- The ingenuitive design folds flat so it fits under a bed.
- ingenuitive mind
- Only an ingenuitive mind would think of using a bucket as a speaker.
- ingenuitive approach
- His ingenuitive approach to teaching made fractions fun.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ingenious
- Ingenious is the standard, accepted word for this meaning, so it is the safer choice in any formal or published writing.
- inventive
- Inventive stresses the ability to create new things or ideas, while ingenuitive tends to describe clever answers to a specific problem.
- resourceful
- Resourceful focuses on making good use of whatever is available in a difficult situation, rather than on the neatness of the idea itself.
- creative
- Creative is broader and often concerns art or imagination, whereas ingenuitive suggests practical cleverness.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: ingenuitive or ingenuous? ingenuitive or ingenious?
ingenuitive vs ingenuous
Ingenuous means honest, innocent and without hidden motives, with no connection to cleverness. Do not use it to praise a clever invention.
ingenuitive vs ingenious
Ingenious is the correct standard form; ingenuitive is a blend of ingenious and ingenuity that most dictionaries do not accept.
Practice
Which word would a careful editor choose in this sentence: 'The engineer found a(n) ______ way to lift the bridge section without a crane'?
Choose one answer.
Ingenious is the standard adjective meaning clever and inventive. Ingenuous means innocent and honest, so it changes the meaning, and ingenuity is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ingenuitive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.