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Ingenious vs Shifty - What's the difference?

ingenious | shifty | Related terms |

Ingenious is a related term of shifty.


As adjectives the difference between ingenious and shifty

is that ingenious is displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent while shifty is having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable; such as someone with shifty eyes .

ingenious

English

Alternative forms

* engenious

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Displaying genius or brilliance; tending to invent.
    • This fellow is ingenious ; he fixed a problem I didn't even know I had.
  • Characterized by genius; cleverly done or contrived.
    • That is an ingenious model of the atom.
  • Witty; original; shrewd; adroit; keen; sagacious.
    • He sent me an ingenious reply for an email.

    Usage notes

    Do not confuse with ingenuous.

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also

    Related terms

    * engine * engineer * genius * ingeniosity * ingeniousness

    References

    * *

    shifty

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable; such as someone with shifty eyes .
    • He was a shifty character in a seedy bar and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
  • Subject to frequent changes in direction.
  • * 1971 , Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule (page 121)
    • Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand. But it was no good: she didn't care.
  • Full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
    • (Wright)
  • * Charles Kingsley
    • Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.