Part 234

A course of learning and ingenious studies.

Shak.

In*gen"ious*ly (?), adv. In an ingenious manner; with ingenuity; skillfully; wittily; cleverly.

"Too ingeniously politic."

Sir W. Temple.

In*gen"ious*ness, n. The quality or state of being ingenious; ingenuity.

{ In*gen"ite, In*gen"it } (?), a. [L. ingenitus, p. p. of ingignere to instill by birth or nature; pref. in- + gignere to beget.] Innate; inborn; inbred; inherent; native; ingenerate. [Obs.]

It is natural or ingenite, which comes by some defect of the organs and overmuch brain.

Burton.

In`ge*nu"i*ty (?), n. [L. ingenuitas ingenuousness: cf. F. ingénuité. See Ingenuous.] 1. The quality or power of ready invention; quickness or acuteness in forming new combinations; ingeniousness; skill in devising or combining.

All the means which human ingenuity has contrived.

Blair.

2. Curiousness, or cleverness in design or contrivance; as, the ingenuity of a plan, or of mechanism.

He gives . . . To artist ingenuity and skill.

Cowper.

3. Openness of heart; ingenuousness. [Obs.]

The stings and remorses of natural ingenuity, a principle that men scarcely ever shake off, as long as they carry anything of human nature about them.

South.

Syn. -- Inventiveness; ingeniousness; skill; cunning; cleverness; genius. -- Ingenuity, Cleverness. Ingenuity is a form of genius, and cleverness of talent. The former implies invention, the letter a peculiar dexterity and readiness of execution. Sir James Mackintosh remarks that the English overdo in the use of the word clever and cleverness, applying them loosely to almost every form of intellectual ability.

In*gen"u*ous (?), a. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.] 1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth.

2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal.

If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuine method to obviate dishonesty.

Locke.

3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc.

Sensible in myself . . . what a burden it is for me, who would be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies which he hath not the least hope to requite or deserve.

Fuller.

4. Ingenious. [Obs.] Shak.

(Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . . ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or rather printed interchangeably almost to the beginning of the eighteenth century. G. P. Marsh.