GENIUS (genii)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: genii   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does genius mean? 

• GENIUS (noun)
  The noun GENIUS has 5 senses:

1. someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality

2. unusual mental ability

3. someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field

4. exceptional creative ability

5. a natural talent

  Familiarity information: GENIUS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GENIUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

brain; brainiac; Einstein; genius; mastermind

Context example:

he's smart but he's no Einstein

Hypernyms ("genius" is a kind of...):

intellect; intellectual (a person who uses the mind creatively)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "genius"):

prodigy (an unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admiration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unusual mental ability

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

brilliance; genius

Hypernyms ("genius" is a kind of...):

intelligence (the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "genius"):

coruscation (a sudden or striking display of brilliance)

pyrotechnics ((music) brilliance of display (as in the performance of music))

scintillation (a brilliant display of wit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

ace; adept; champion; genius; hotshot; maven; mavin; sensation; star; superstar; virtuoso; whiz; whizz; wiz; wizard

Hypernyms ("genius" is a kind of...):

expert (a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "genius"):

track star (a star runner)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Exceptional creative ability

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

genius; wizardry

Hypernyms ("genius" is a kind of...):

creative thinking; creativeness; creativity (the ability to create)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A natural talent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

flair; genius

Context example:

he has a genius for interior decorating

Hypernyms ("genius" is a kind of...):

endowment; gift; natural endowment; talent (natural abilities or qualities)

 Context examples 

Here is Mr. Micawber, with a variety of qualifications, with great talent—I should say, with genius, but that may be the partiality of a wife— Traddles and I both murmured “No.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At other times I take him for a great man, a genius who has never arrived.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Talent isn't genius, and you can't make it so.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Genius is said to be self-conscious.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The fellow is a genius in his way, and would have made his mark in some more savoury trade.

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

“Aye, there’s the genius and the wonder of the thing!” he cried.

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

It was nothing less than a navigation stroke of genius.

(NASA's Juno Navigators Enable Jupiter Cyclone Discovery, NASA)

Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Genius, my dear Von Bork—genius!

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Uranus, the planet of innovation, disruption, sudden change, creativity, and even genius, has been retrograde since August 11 and will go direct on the same day as the eclipse, January 10.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)