All of Laptsev went to stare at the bride-to-be—she was no beauty, but everyone could see that she was clever, sophisticated …—Isaac Bashevis Singer, New Yorker, 29 Sept. 2003… the three of them may give Gray Davis, who was too clever for his own good, his comeuppance.—Garrison Keillor, Time, 25 Aug. 2003Some thought he had no redeeming value whatsoever. A sociopath. A clever manipulator …—Louise Erdrich, New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2002Those who can't write poetry, write clever letters to the editor. Those who can't write clever letters to the editor, write angry letters to the editor.—Matt Groening, Utne Reader, November/December 1987The old lady was clever enough and he thought that if she had started from any of the right premises, more might have been expected of her.—Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge, 1967
Some cats are clever enough to figure out how to operate doorknobs.
That's the cleverest idea I've heard yet!
She found a clever hiding place for the letter.
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The goal is to keep chats interesting with entertaining banter and clever comebacks, the company adds.—Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 13 Mar. 2026 This clever bag can be used two ways—as a backpack and as a tote bag.—Michelle Baricevic, Travel + Leisure, 12 Mar. 2026 Would that kind of thing have seemed funny at the time, or maybe a clever way to avoid a topic either too personal or too fraught for out-group consumption?—Literary Hub, 12 Mar. 2026 The other noticeable thing about new Kalo did not have a lot to do with history but rather very clever editing as producers put together a masterful montage of Genevieve working the entire tribe against Aubry.—Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 12 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for clever
Word History
Etymology
Middle English cliver, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish dialect kløver alert, skillful