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Genius   /dʒˈinjəs/   Listen
noun
Genius  n.  
1.
A good or evil spirit, or demon, supposed by the ancients to preside over a man's destiny in life; a tutelary deity; a supernatural being; a spirit, good or bad. Cf. Jinnee. (pl. L. genii)
Synonyms: genie. "The unseen genius of the wood." "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."
2.
The peculiar structure of mind with which each individual is endowed by nature; that disposition or aptitude of mind which is peculiar to each man, and which qualifies him for certain kinds of action or special success in any pursuit; special taste, inclination, or disposition; as, a genius for history, for poetry, or painting.
3.
Peculiar character; animating spirit, as of a nation, a religion, a language.
4.
Distinguished mental superiority; uncommon intellectual power; especially, superior power of invention or origination of any kind, or of forming new combinations; as, a man of genius. "Genius of the highest kind implies an unusual intensity of the modifying power."
5.
A man endowed with uncommon vigor of mind; a man of superior intellectual faculties and creativity; as, Shakespeare was a rare genius.
Synonyms: Genius, Talent. Genius implies high and peculiar gifts of nature, impelling the mind to certain favorite kinds of mental effort, and producing new combinations of ideas, imagery, etc. Talent supposes general strength of intellect, with a peculiar aptitude for being molded and directed to specific employments and valuable ends and purposes. Genius is connected more or less with the exercise of imagination, and reaches its ends by a kind of intuitive power. Talent depends more on high mental training, and a perfect command of all the faculties, memory, judgment, sagacity, etc. Hence we speak of a genius for poetry, painting. etc., and a talent for business or diplomacy. Among English orators, Lord Chatham was distinguished for his genius; William Pitt for his preeminent talents, and especially his unrivaled talent for debate.
Genius loci, the genius or presiding divinity of a place; hence, the pervading spirit of a place or institution, as of a college, etc.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Genius" Quotes from Famous Books



... handed back the cup. "Thank you," he said. As she turned away, her hand was trembling again. She swept her eyes in the opposite direction from Harwin if he should still be there. Edmonson, after a long glance at her, lay watching him. Here was his evil genius. But for Harwin what would not have been? In a flash the future that he had planned, a thousand times more blissful than his former dreams, came up before him, and, fading, left the present all the more blank. His wounded right arm moved convulsively. ...
— The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, February, 1886. - The Bay State Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, February, 1886. • Various
... up and examined the sketches on the walls. They were from pen, pencil, and brush, from as many artists,—some quite good and showing more or less budding genius. He paused some time before the ...
— Mlle. Fouchette - A Novel of French Life • Charles Theodore Murray
... in confinement, and it may be that Epicurus and Lucretius had arrived at those limits of human reason, where genius begins in some and ...
— Willis the Pilot • Paul Adrien
... made it, like all other souls, liable to aberration both for better and worse. They held that some organisms show more ready wit and savoir faire than others; that some give more proofs of genius and have more frequent happy thoughts than others, and that some have even gone through waters of misery which they have ...
— Luck or Cunning? • Samuel Butler
... far more than money, one of which is that sense of having done our neighbour's share as well as our own. It will be enough for us to watch when, bewildered by the lusty life and growth and the maze of new-made streets of the future city, the laggard stands debating with that other self, that genius that has kept him what he is. Fancy his striking attitude, thumbs in arm-pits and eyes rolling up to some tall spire, crying out to his other self, 'Thou canst not say I helped do this! Shake not thy towseled locks at me!'—By ...
— Sally of Missouri • R. E. Young


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