noun · neutral
cleverness
UK/ˈklevənəs/US/ˈklevərnəs/CLEV·er·ness
the quality of being quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligence or skill
Examples
“The cleverness of the design saved the company money.”
“I admired the cleverness of her solution.”
“Cleverness alone is not enough; effort matters too.”
Band 8 sentence
“While his cleverness allowed him to improvise solutions quickly, the team still valued systematic planning.”
Collocations
- display cleverness
- a cleverness of design
- cleverness and skill
Word family
Common mistakes
He has a cleverness idea.→He has a clever idea.
Many clevernesses were shown in the project.→Many examples of cleverness were shown in the project.
Say it for a higher band
5smartness→6intelligence→7+cleverness
Synonyms
intelligence
ingenuity
Easily confused
ingenuity
“Her ingenuity produced a low-cost way to filter water.”
intelligence
“His intelligence was clear from his analytical approach.”
Related words
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In -ness
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