All of Laptsev went to stare at the bride-to-be—she was no beauty, but everyone could see that she was clever, sophisticated …—Isaac Bashevis Singer, New Yorker, 29 Sept. 2003… the three of them may give Gray Davis, who was too clever for his own good, his comeuppance.—Garrison Keillor, Time, 25 Aug. 2003Some thought he had no redeeming value whatsoever. A sociopath. A clever manipulator …—Louise Erdrich, New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2002Those who can't write poetry, write clever letters to the editor. Those who can't write clever letters to the editor, write angry letters to the editor.—Matt Groening, Utne Reader, November/December 1987The old lady was clever enough and he thought that if she had started from any of the right premises, more might have been expected of her.—Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge, 1967
Some cats are clever enough to figure out how to operate doorknobs.
That's the cleverest idea I've heard yet!
She found a clever hiding place for the letter.
Recent Examples on the WebDani Olmo came within inches of a goal that would have taken the tie to extra time in stoppage time, but his clever lob hit the top of the crossbar with goalkeeper Andriy Lunin watching on helplessly.—Matias Grez, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 The puzzle-maker risks coming across as better, smarter, and more clever than the rest of us.—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2024 Although Adam Sandler’s Leo is funny and undeniably clever, its Hollywood cuteness tortures the anthropomorphic concept.—Armond White, National Review, 6 Mar. 2024 But here’s the really clever bit: Anyware Robotics Pixmo Trailer Unloading
That conveyor system in front of the boxes is an add-on that’s used in support of Pixmo.—IEEE Spectrum, 5 Mar. 2024 Wasn’t there a better way to relate to clever creatures?—Ben Crair, The New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2024 Never let anyone say folks in the Bay Area aren’t clever.—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 2 Mar. 2024 Both the bar’s look and name are a fresh and clever nod to golden age of 1960s cinema, as well as the design trends of that era, using a mix of warm, curved edges and a lively teal and burned orange color scheme, to create a vibe that feels distinctly retro and futuristic all at the same time.—Isabelle Kliger, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 But in 1995, the applied mathematician Peter Shor discovered a clever way to store quantum information.—Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 23 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clever.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English cliver, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish dialect kløver alert, skillful
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