Clever — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Clever (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

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"

   similar: artful, creative, imaginative, ingenious, innovative, inventive
   related: adventurous, fresh, groundbreaking, novel, original, visionary, cleverish, gadgety, gimmicky, convenient, handy, neat, nifty, practical, useful, complex, sophisticated, adroit, deft, dexterous, expert, handsome, tricky, brainy, intelligent, sharp, smart
   opposite: uncreative, unimaginative
   near: dull, pedantic, pedestrian, stodgy, assembly-line, canned, cookie-cutter, derivative, hackneyed, unoriginal, impractical, useless

2. having or showing quickness of mind

   "a clever student figured out a trick to do the assignment faster"

   similar: alert, brainy, bright, brilliant, exceptional, fast, hyperintelligent, intelligent, keen, nimble, quick, quick-witted, sharp, sharp-witted, smart, supersmart, ultrasmart
   related: 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, sensible, sound, crafty, cunning, foxy, shrewd, wily, logical, rational, reasonable
   opposite: airheaded, birdbrained, boneheaded, brain-dead, brainless, bubbleheaded, chuckleheaded, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey, dorky (slang), dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, gormless (chiefly British), half-witted, knuckleheaded, lamebrain, lunkheaded, mindless, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, senseless, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, stupid, thick, thickheaded, thick-witted, unbrilliant, unintelligent, unsmart, vacuous, weak-minded, witless
   near: feebleminded, simpleminded, boobish, foolish, half-baked, idiotic, imbecile, 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, harebrained, insane, kooky, loony, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, tomfool, unwise, wacky, zany

3. skillful with the hands

   "the Shakers were clever artisans who created many ingenious and highly useful devices"

   similar: cunning, deft, dexterous, handy
   related: agile, flexible, graceful, limber, lissome, lithe, lithesome, nimble, spry, coordinated, able, adept, capable, competent, expert, habile, masterful, masterly, proficient, qualified, skilled, skillful, sure-handed, double-jointed, loose-jointed
   opposite: butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, unhandy
   near: awkward, bungling, clumsy, fumbling, gauche, gawky, graceless, klutzy, rough-hewn, stiff, stilted, uncomfortable, uneasy, ungainly, ungraceful, wooden, uncoordinated, incapable, incompetent, inept, inexpert, maladroit

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"

   similar: facetious, humorous, jocular, smart, witty
   related: 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, whimsical
   near: brainless, lowbrow, stupid, witless, corny, hackney, hackneyed, lame, humorless, unamusing, uncomic, unfunny, earnest, grave, serious, serious-minded, sober, solemn, somber, 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"

   similar: creative, imaginative, ingenious, innovational, innovative, innovatory, inventive, original, originative, Promethean
   related: gifted, inspired, talented, resourceful, fecund, fertile, fruitful, generative, germinal, productive, prolific
   opposite: uncreative, unimaginative, uninventive, unoriginal
   near: imitative, uninspired, infertile, unproductive, talentless