genius
UK/ˈd͡ʒiː.ni.əs//ˈd͡ʒin.jəs/
genius noun: someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art, etc.
Noun
genius (countable and uncountable, plural geniuses or genii)
- Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art, etc.
- She's a genius; she won a Nobel Prize at fifteen!
- Marx stand höher, sah weiter, überblickte mehr und rascher als wir andern alle. Marx war ein Genie, wir andern höchstens Talente.1962 [1888, 1886], Friedrich Engels, chapter IV, in Ludwig Feuerbach und der Ausgang der klassischen deutschen Philosophie (Marx-Engels-Werke; 21), page 292; English translation from Ludwig Feuerbach...
- Antonyms:
- idiot
- Extraordinary mental capacity.
- Excuse, therefore, the shortcomings of genius under the sudorific influence of the summer solstice; for be assured that the vertical sun, however it may dulcify and mature cherries, plums, and other fruitful ‘plumpitudes,’ is by no means favorable to the development of intellectual products.1853, Whirligig, quotee, edited by William Kidd, Kidd’s Own Journal; for Inter-Communications on Natural History, Popular Science, and Things in General, volume IV, number 8, London: William Spooner...
- In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.
- a work of genius
- to add a dash of cinnamon amid such umami was pure genius
- The tutelary deity or spirit of a place or person.
- and the genius of the place: the growing enthusiasm for codified standards in the Army and Navy
- We talk of genius still, but with thought how changed! The genius of Augustus was a tutelary demon, to be sworn by and to receive offerings on an altar as a deity.1715, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive Culture
- Synonyms:
- tutelary deity, spirit, liqueur, liquor, apparition, specter, vision
Adjective
genius (comparative more genius, superlative most genius)
- Ingenious, brilliant, very clever, or original.
- What a genius idea!
- Bjarte Birkeland asserts that the reason why Nynorsk writers of fiction have succeeded in coming so close to naked life is not that they are more genius than authors writing in Bokmal, but that they are using their mother tongue2002, Oskar Bandle, Lennart Elmevik, Gun Widmark, The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the North Germanic Languages, volume 1, page 466
genius meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
genius in Hindi
- someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill
- प्रतिभाशाली pratibhāśālī, प्रतिभावान pratibhāvān
genius in Tamil
- நுண்ணறிவாளர், பேரறிவாளன், பேரறிவு, மாண்புலம், மேதை, புலமை
genius in Urdu
- genius
- ذہن zihn
genius in Bengali
- প্রতিভা, দৈত্য, সহজাত সৃজনী ক্ষমতা, বিশেষ দক্ষতা, সহজাত দক্ষতা, সহজাত ক্ষমতা
More languagesFewer languages
- genius in Telugu
- మేధావి, జీనియస్
- genius in Malayalam
- പ്രതിഭ pratibha
- genius in Kannada
- ಅಸಾಧಾರಣ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯ, ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟವಾದ ಬುದ್ಧಿಶಕ್ತಿ, ಅಸಾಧಾರಣ ಪ್ರತಿಭೆ, ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಪ್ರತಿಭೆಯುಳ್ಳ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ
- genius in Gujarati
- જીનિયસ
- genius in Tagalog
- henyo
- genius in Arabic
- عَبْقَرِيّ ʕabqariyy, نَابِغَة nābiḡa, عَبْقَرِيَّة ʕabqariyya
- genius in Malay
- pintar
- genius in Indonesian
- genius, jenius
- genius in Thai
- อัจฉริยบุคคล àt-chà-rí-yá-bùk-kon
- genius in Vietnamese
- thiên tài
Examples of genius in a sentence
- We all know how genius “Kamp Krusty,” “A Streetcar Named Marge,” “Homer The Heretic,” “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” and “Mr.2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in...
- She said the writing for these products “is very genius” because it's carefully done.2022 August 2, Wanda Sutherland, “Dangers of vaping: Teen use of e-cigarettes considered epidemic”, in Elk Valley Times:
Synonyms of genius
9 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of genius
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | geniuses |
| plural | genii |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more genius |
| superlative | most genius |
Origin of genius
From Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin genō, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁-. Doublet of genio. See also genus and genie.
Words formed from genius
Phrases with genius
Words that rhyme with genius
Questions about genius
- What does genius mean?
- Genius means someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art, etc.
- What is genius in Hindi?
- Genius in Hindi is प्रतिभाशाली (pratibhāśālī), प्रतिभावान (pratibhāvān). See Genius meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use genius in a sentence?
- We all know how genius “Kamp Krusty,” “A Streetcar Named Marge,” “Homer The Heretic,” “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” and “Mr.
- What part of speech is genius?
- Genius can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce genius?
- Genius is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒiː.ni.əs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of genius?
- The plural of genius is geniuses.
Words near genius in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: genius (page history and authors); genius (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ذہن (Urdu) (page history and authors); genius (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genius (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); genius (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genius (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-genius.ogg.
Cite this entry: “genius.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/genius. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.