Clever, Intelligent, smart...

Hey everyone, I am back from Okinawa where I saw some interesting sites, enjoyed great food and, some sun, sand and swimming. ^^

So I am back in Kyoto and trying to get back to my normal routine. Today, I will be talking about the differences between clever, intelligent and smart.

Now, clever is often used by Japanese English speakers but is not so common in Montreal. There are a few meanings:

1. quick thinking and original.
2. Good with your hands and body, agile, dextrous.

In New England(a part of the US) we have:

3A. easily managed; docile: "Oxen must be pretty clever to be bossed around that way"
3B. easy and nice to speak to but not especially smart.


In the Southern US:

4. Good-natured; friendly.

Some of the meanings are a little negative:

5. smart in a superficial way

AND In British informal English:

6. sly or cunning [Middle English cliver]


In all the books I've read and tv shows I've seen the usage of clever has most often been number 1. It's usually used to describe someone who is good at solving problems or puzzles. It can be positive in meaning but sometimes it's used to describe someone who tricked you so, to me, it has a bit of a negative meaning.

Now smart and intelligent are a bit closer in meaning. Both are positive and to me the difference is more in usage than in meaning.

Smart is more CASUAL and we use it more often than intelligent. It means that you can learn things quickly and easily. You are a fast thinker and ressourceful.

Intelligent is more FORMAL and so you will see it often in newspapers or hear it in university textbooks, etc.

A- It means that you can think, usually to a high degree
(ex: Monkeys are more intelligent than dogs).

B- It can also mean, showing good judgement
(ex: He made an intelligent decision when he invested in Microsoft in the 1970s).

C- When we use intelligent to talk about computers, robots or machines, the meaning is that they can make decisions on their own, it looks like they can think. Smart shares this meaning.
(ex: AI= artificial intelligence, The smart missile hit the plane after a long chase.)

I hope that helped!

Phil