intelligent stresses success in coping with new situations and solving problems.
an intelligent person could assemble it fast
clever implies native ability or aptness and sometimes suggests a lack of more substantial qualities.
clever with words
alert stresses quickness in perceiving and understanding.
alert to new technology
quick-witted implies promptness in finding answers in debate or in devising expedients in moments of danger or challenge.
no match for his quick-witted opponent
Example Sentences
She asked some intelligent questions. He's a hard worker but he's not very intelligent.
Recent Examples on the WebWhile intelligent minds can differ, this is just one of several points where Stone’s rhetorical punchiness is more a distraction than a point of illumination. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Sep. 2022 Trae Patton/NBC 14 of 15 Laura Linney in Christian Siriano Similarly to Issa Rae’s gown, Laura Linney’s Christian Siriano dress made intelligent use of white and black. Lauren Puckett-pope, ELLE, 13 Sep. 2022 The other, sensitive and intelligent, settled in Paris as a young man and devoted himself to one artistic pursuit after another. Robert D. Mcfadden, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2022 The queen helped the many British prime ministers who served in her lifetime by listening to them and asking intelligent questions in her traditional weekly audience with them, former Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday. Jean-nicholas Fievet, NBC News, 12 Sep. 2022 Because Preston’s logic elements are made of fabric, the intelligent jacket feels more like a regular one than a coat filled with electronics or other hard components. Sophia Chen, WIRED, 12 Sep. 2022 Look closely whenever cinematographer Ludovica Isidori moves her active, intelligent camera. Amy Nicholson, Variety, 11 Sep. 2022 The Rothschild family is one of the world's great dynasties—but never before have the lives of the family's women been explored in such intelligent, entertaining detail as in Natalie Livingstone's new must read. The Editors, Town & Country, 9 Sep. 2022 Grace, the widow of a Naval officer who lives comfortably in Brooklyn with her intelligent daughter, Veronica Grace, who just graduated from college and is about to start her journalism career.Sun Sentinel, 7 Sep. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Latin intelligent-, intelligens, present participle of intelligere, intellegere to understand, from inter- + legere to gather, select — more at legend