CLEVER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does clever mean? 

• CLEVER (adjective)
  The adjective CLEVER has 3 senses:

1. showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others

2. mentally quick and resourceful

3. showing inventiveness and skill

  Familiarity information: CLEVER used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLEVER (adjective)

Comparative: cleverer   
Superlative: cleverest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others

Synonyms:

cagey; cagy; canny; clever

Context example:

too clever to be sound

Similar:

smart (showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mentally quick and resourceful

Synonyms:

apt; clever

Context example:

you are a clever man...you reason well and your wit is bold

Similar:

intelligent (having the capacity for thought and reason especially to a high degree)

Derivation:

cleverness (intelligence as manifested in being quick and witty)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Showing inventiveness and skill

Synonyms:

clever; cunning; ingenious

Context example:

an ingenious solution to the problem

Similar:

adroit (quick or skillful or adept in action or thought)

Derivation:

cleverness (the property of being ingenious)

 Context examples 

I dare say he is clever, but I never had much conversation with him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If you are clever and know your business you can fake a bone as easily as you can a photograph.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It's clever all right, was the retort, but it's fair, too.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A famous clever animal for the road—only forty guineas.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He is uncommonly clever, if one can judge from his face, and full of energy.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Still, his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself to be a clever little fellow, who always knew well what he was about.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He is a clever man, a reading man; and I confess, that I do consider his attaching himself to her with some surprise.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,” said the inspector.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Miss Kate decided that she was 'odd', but rather clever, and smiled upon her from afar.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

François knew he was behind all the trouble, and Buck knew he knew; but Buck was too clever ever again to be caught red-handed.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)