genius
Other forms: geniuses; genii
Genius is an exceptional talent or skill, something above and beyond the norm. A genius is someone who possesses this brilliance, like a child prodigy who learned the piano at age 3 and played sold-out concerts by age 5.
Genius comes from the Latin word of the same name, meaning "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth" or "innate ability." Your genius — your superior talent — at the game of chess could make you a world champion. Your amazing genius would also make you a genius. The word can be used more lightheartedly to describe a natural ability or flair for something. You may have a genius for putting together stylish outfits.
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unusual mental abilitysynonyms: brilliancetypes:coruscationa sudden or striking display of brilliancepyrotechnics(music) brilliance of display (as in the performance of music)scintillationa brilliant display of wittype of:intelligencethe ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience
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exceptional creative abilitysynonyms: wizardry
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someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality“Mozart was a child genius”synonyms: Einstein, brain, brainiac, mastermindtypes:prodigyan unusually gifted or intelligent (young) person; someone whose talents excite wonder and admirationboy wonderan extremely talented young male personchild prodigy, infant prodigy, wonder child, wunderkinda prodigy whose talents are recognized at an early agegirl wonderan extremely talented young female persontype of:
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someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
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having or marked by unusual and impressive intelligencesynonyms: brainy, brilliant, smart as a whipintelligenthaving the capacity for thought and reason especially to a high degree
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a natural talent
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Vocabulary lists containing genius
Language change is driven by mistakes. If every generation of children learned perfectly what they heard spoken around them, then languages would be exact duplicates of themselves, stretching years into the past. But this isn't what happens. Errors, mishearings, inversion of sounds, dropping and adding of sounds, all these phenomena and more drive historical language change. You'll find a few of these systematic inconsistencies that result in other word forms below, as well as singular instances that don't fit a pattern where linguists can pinpoint exactly what went "wrong."
"I before E except after C." It's weird how often spelling rules like that don't work in English! Instead of spending countless hours learning a ton of spelling rules and hundreds of exceptions, choose the Spelling Bee activity to brush up on these commonly misspelled English words. It's an ingenious way for you to become a spelling genius! Here are links to our lists in the collection: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6
Calling all budding geniuses! Don't let inertia stop you from learning these words related to physicist Albert Einstein and his work. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, Einstein is widely considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time. If these words give you the momentum to learn more about physics, you can practice our introductory physics list here.