clever

1 showing a noteworthy use of the imagination and creativity especially in inventing an inventor who was constantly coming up with clever devices for doing everyday chores Synonyms artful, creative, imaginative, ingenious, innovative, inventive Related Words adventurous, fresh, groundbreaking, novel, original, visionary; cleverish, gadgety, gimmicky; convenient, handy, neat, nifty, practical, useful; complex, sophisticated; adroit, deft, dexterous (also dextrous), expert, handsome, tricky; brainy, intelligent, sharp, smart Near Antonyms dull, pedantic, pedestrian, stodgy; assembly-line, canned, cookie-cutter, derivative, hackneyed, unoriginal; impractical, useless Antonyms uncreative, unimaginative

2 having or showing quickness of mind a clever student figured out a trick to do the assignment faster Synonyms alert, brainy, bright, brilliant, intelligent, exceptional, fast, hyperintelligent, keen, nimble, quick, quick-witted, sharp, sharp-witted, smart, supersmart, ultrasmartRelated Words apt, ingenious, resourceful; acute, astute, discerning, heady, insightful, knowing, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, sagacious, sapient, savvy, wise; cerebral, erudite, genial, highbrow, knowledgeable, learned, literate, scholarly, well-read; educated, informed, schooled, skilled, trained; creative, inventive, judicious, prudent, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise; crafty, cunning, foxy, shrewd, wily; logical, rational, reasonableNear Antonyms feebleminded, simpleminded; boobish, foolish, half-baked, idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), moronic, silly; ignorant, illiterate, lowbrow, nonintellectual, unacademic, uneducated, uninformed, unintellectual, untaught, unthinking; absurd, asinine, balmy, cockeyed, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, featherheaded, fool, half-baked, harebrained, insane, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, tomfool, unwise, wacky (also whacky), zanyAntonyms airheaded, birdbrained, boneheaded, brain-dead, brainless, bubbleheaded, chuckleheaded, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey (also dopy), dorky [slang], dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, gormless [chiefly British], half-witted, knuckleheaded, lamebrain (or lamebrained), lunkheaded, mindless, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, senseless, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, stupid, thick, thickheaded, thick-witted, unbrilliant, unintelligent, unsmart, vacuous, weak-minded, witless

3 skillful with the hands the Shakers were clever artisans who created many ingenious and highly useful devices Synonyms dexterous, cunning, deft, handyRelated Words agile, flexible, graceful, limber, lissome (also lissom), lithe, lithesome, nimble, spry; coordinated; able, adept, capable, competent, expert, habile, masterful, masterly, proficient, qualified, skilled, skillful, sure-handed; double-jointed, loose-jointedNear Antonyms awkward, bungling, clumsy, fumbling, gauche, gawky, graceless, klutzy, rough-hewn, stiff, stilted, uncomfortable, uneasy, ungainly, ungraceful, wooden; uncoordinated; incapable, incompetent, inept, inexpert, maladroitAntonyms butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, unhandy

4 given to or marked by mature intelligent humor a clever joke that requires a little bit of thought on the part of the listener Synonyms witty, facetious, humorous, jocular, smartRelated Words cerebral, highbrow, highbrowed, intellectual; bantering, frivolous, jesting, joking, joshing, teasing; antic, comic, comical, droll, farcical, funny, hysterical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, riotous, risible, rollicking, screaming, sidesplitting, uproarious; amusing, diverting, entertaining; mischievous, playful, prankish; jocose, jocund, jolly, jovial, laughing, merry, mirthful, sunny; scintillating, sparkling; flip, flippant, pert, smart-aleck, smart-alecky, waggish; whimsicalNear Antonyms brainless, lowbrow, stupid, witless; corny, hackney, hackneyed, lame; humorless, unamusing, uncomic, unfunny; earnest, grave, serious, serious-minded, sober, solemn, somber (or sombre); doleful, dolorous, lachrymose, plaintive, sorry, tearful, woeful

5 having the skill and imagination to create new things I wonder what clever person thought of the digital camera Synonyms creative, imaginative, ingenious, innovational, innovative, innovatory, inventive, original, originative, PrometheanRelated Words gifted, inspired, talented; resourceful; fecund, fertile, fruitful, generative, germinal, productive, prolificNear Antonyms imitative, uninspired; infertile, unproductive; talentlessAntonyms uncreative, unimaginative, uninventive, unoriginal