Ingenious vs Curious - What's the difference?
ingenious | curious |
Displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent.
Characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived.
Witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious.
(lb) Fastidious, particular; demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
*1612 , , Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia , in Kupperman 1988, p.172:
*:But departing thence, when we found no houses, we were not curious in any weather, to lie 3 or 4 nights together upon any shore under the trees by a good fire.
*(Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)
*:little curious in her clothes
Inquisitive; tending to ask questions, investigate, or explore.
:
Prompted by curiosity.
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.ix:
*:But he to shift their curious request, / Gan causen, why she could not come in place.
Unusual; odd; out of the ordinary; bizarre.
:
*
*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile?; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
(lb) Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
*(Bible), (w) xxxv.32
*:to devise curious works
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:his body couched in a curious bed
As adjectives the difference between ingenious and curious
is that ingenious is displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent while curious is (lb) fastidious, particular; demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.ingenious
English
Alternative forms
* engeniousAdjective
(en adjective)- This fellow is ingenious ; he fixed a problem I didn't even know I had.
- That is an ingenious model of the atom.
- He sent me an ingenious reply for an email.