clever
adjective🔊/ˈklevə(r)/
🔊/ˈklevər/
(comparative cleverer, superlative cleverest)
You can also use more clever and most clever.Idioms - (especially British English)
quick at learning and understanding things 聪明的；聪颖的 a clever child 聪明伶俐的孩子 Clever girl! 多么聪慧的女孩！ 🔊🔊 He's too clever by half, if you ask me (= it annoys me or makes me suspicious). 恕我直言，他未免聪明过头了。 🔊🔊 They're not clever enough to find the code. 他们不够聪明，无法找到代码。
Synonyms intelligentintelligentTopics Personal qualitiesa2- smart
- clever
- brilliant
- bright
- intelligent good at learning, understanding and thinking in a logical way about things; showing this ability:
He’s a highly intelligent man.She asked a lot of intelligent questions. 他是一个非常聪明的人。她问了很多聪明的问题。 - smart (especially North American English)
quick at learning and understanding things; showing the ability to make good business or personal decisions: 指聪明的、机敏的、精明的 ：She’s smarter than her brother.That was a smart career move. 她比哥哥聪明，这是明智的职业举动。 - clever (sometimes disapproving, especially British English) quick at learning and understanding things; showing this ability:
How clever of you to work it out!He’s too clever by half, if you ask me. People use clever in the phrase : Clever boy/girl! to tell a young child that they have learnt or done something well. When used to or about an adult clever can be disapproving. 你们真聪明！如果您问我，他太聪明了。人们在短语中使用聪明：聪明的男孩/女孩！告诉年幼的孩子他们已经学到或做得很好。当习惯或约一个成年人的聪明时，可能会不赞成。 - brilliant extremely intelligent or showing a lot of skill:
He’s a brilliant young scientist. 他是一个才华横溢的青年科学家。 - bright intelligent; quick to learn:
She’s probably the brightest student in the class. Bright is used especially to talk about young people. Common collocations of bright include girl, boy, kid, student, pupil. 她可能是班上最聪明的学生。聪明是专门用来谈论年轻人的。常见的搭配光明包括女孩，男孩，孩子，学生，学生。
- clever/brilliant at something
- a(n) intelligent/smart/clever/brilliant/bright child/boy/girl/man/woman
- a(n) intelligent/smart/clever/brilliant thing to do
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- sound
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- at
- with
- too clever by half
- too clever for your own good
- (especially British English)
showing skill 精巧的；精明的 - clever at something
He's always been clever at crosswords. 他对填字游戏一直很聪明。 - clever at doing something
She's clever at getting what she wants. 她想把什么东西弄到手的时候总是很精的。 🔊🔊 - clever with something
He's clever with his hands. 他的手很灵巧。 🔊🔊
Extra ExamplesI became quite clever at making tasty meals out of nothing. 我变得很擅长变戏法似的做出美味佳肴。 I'm not very clever at maths. 我不太擅长数学。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- sound
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- at
- with
- too clever by half
- too clever for your own good
- clever at something
-
showing intelligence or skill, for example in the design of an object, in an idea or somebody’s actions 精巧的；精明的 a clever trick 巧妙的把戏 What a clever idea! 多么精明的主意！ 🔊🔊 That wasn't very clever (= what you just did wasn't sensible), was it? 那样做不太明智，是不是？ 🔊🔊 clever marketing 聪明的营销 Admitting her mistake may have been quite a clever move on her part. 承认自己的错误对她而言可能是一个非常聪明的举动。 - it is clever of somebody to do something
It was clever of him to have spotted the mistake. 发现错误是他的聪明。 How clever of you to work it out! 你解决了这个问题真是太聪明了！ 🔊🔊 - it is clever to do something
'Young people think it's clever to do that sort of thing, and it isn't,' she said. 她说，年轻人认为做这种事情很聪明，但事实并非如此。 - clever of somebody
Letting him think it was his idea was very clever of you. 让他认为这是他的主意对您非常聪明。
Extra ExamplesThat wasn't a very clever thing to do. 那件事做得有点蠢。 a simple yet fiendishly clever idea 简单而又绝妙的主意 a clever little gadget 精巧的小器具 The present owners have made clever use of the limited space in this room. 现在的主人巧妙地利用了这个房间的有限空间。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- (British English, informal, disapproving)
quick with words in a way that annoys people or does not show respect 油腔滑调的 Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- sound
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- at
- with
- too clever by half
- too clever for your own good
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘quick to catch hold’, only recorded in this period): perhaps of Dutch or Low German origin, and related to cleave ‘to stick to something’. In the late 16th cent. the term came to mean (probably through dialect use) ‘manually skilful’; the sense ‘possessing mental agility’ dates from the early 18th cent.
Idioms
box clever
- (British English, informal)
to act in a clever way to get what you want, sometimes tricking somebody 巧妙地得到想要的东西（有时蒙骗人） Suzie realized that she had to box clever. She had to let Adam think she trusted him. 苏西意识到她必须施点手腕，让亚当以为自己信任他。