%genu%

a. 1. Not noble; unbecoming true honor or dignity; mean; unworthy; as, disingenuous conduct or schemes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not ingenuous; wanting in noble candor or frankness; not frank or open; uncandid; unworthily or meanly artful. [ 1913 Webster ]

So disingenuous as not to confess them [ faults ]. Pope.

-- Dis`in*gen"u*ous*ly, adv. T. Warton. -- Dis`in*gen"u*ous*ness, n. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Genua [ L., the knee. ] (Anat.) (a) The knee. (b) The kneelike bend, in the anterior part of the callosum of the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Genuflected; p. pr. & vb. n. Genuflecting. ] [ See Genuflection. ] To bend the knee, as in worship. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. génuflexion, fr. LL. genuflexio, fr. L. genu knee + flexio a bending, fr. flectere, flexum, to bend. See Knee, Flexible. ] The act of bending the knee, particularly in worship or reverence. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. genuinus, fr. genere, gignere, to beget, in pass., to be born: cf. F. génuine. See Gender. ] Belonging to, or proceeding from, the original stock; native; hence, not counterfeit, spurious, false, or adulterated; authentic; real; natural; true; pure; as, a genuine text; a genuine production; genuine materials. “True, genuine night.” Dryden.

Syn. -- Authentic; real; true; pure; unalloyed; unadulterated. See Authentic.

-- Gen"u*ine*ly, adv. -- Gen"u*ine*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

The evidence, both internal and external, against the genuineness of these letters, is overwhelming. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Genera [ L., birth, race, kind, sort; akin to Gr. &unr_;. See Gender, and cf. Benign. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Logic) A class of objects divided into several subordinate species; a class more extensive than a species; a precisely defined and exactly divided class; one of the five predicable conceptions, or sorts of terms. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) An assemblage of species, having so many fundamental points of structure in common, that in the judgment of competent scientists, they may receive a common substantive name. A genus is not necessarily the lowest definable group of species, for it may often be divided into several subgenera. In proportion as its definition is exact, it is natural genus; if its definition can not be made clear, it is more or less an artificial genus. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Thus in the animal kingdom the lion, leopard, tiger, cat, and panther are species of the Cat kind or genus, while in the vegetable kingdom all the species of oak form a single genus. Some genera are represented by a multitude of species, as Solanum (Nightshade) and Carex (Sedge), others by few, and some by only one known species. [ 1913 Webster ]

Subaltern genus (Logic), a genus which may be a species of a higher genus, as the genus denoted by quadruped, which is also a species of mammal. --
Summum genus [ L. ] (Logic), the highest genus; a genus which can not be classed as a species, as being. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. -nues /plu>. [ F., fem. of ingénu ingenious. ] An ingenuous or naïve girl or young woman, or an actress representing such a person. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. ingenuitas ingenuousness: cf. F. ingénuité. See Ingenuous. ] 1. The quality or power of ready invention; quickness or acuteness in forming new combinations; ingeniousness; skill in devising or combining. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the means which human ingenuity has contrived. Blair. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Curiousness, or cleverness in design or contrivance; as, the ingenuity of a plan, or of mechanism. [ 1913 Webster ]

He gives . . .
To artist ingenuity and skill. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Openness of heart; ingenuousness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The stings and remorses of natural ingenuity, a principle that men scarcely ever shake off, as long as they carry anything of human nature about them. South.

Syn. -- Inventiveness; ingeniousness; skill; cunning; cleverness; genius. -- Ingenuity, Cleverness. Ingenuity is a form of genius, and cleverness of talent. The former implies invention, the letter a peculiar dexterity and readiness of execution. Sir James Mackintosh remarks that the English overdo in the use of the word clever and cleverness, applying them loosely to almost every form of intellectual ability. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious. ] 1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal. [ 1913 Webster ]

If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuine method to obviate dishonesty. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sensible in myself . . . what a burden it is for me, who would be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies which he hath not the least hope to requite or deserve. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Ingenious. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ (Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . . ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or rather printed interchangeably almost to the beginning of the eighteenth century. G. P. Marsh.

Syn. -- Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere; candid; fair; noble; generous. -- Ingenuous, Open, Frank. One who is open speaks out at once what is uppermost in his mind; one who is frank does it from a natural boldness, or dislike of self-restraint; one who is ingenuous is actuated by a native simplicity and artlessness, which make him willing to confess faults, and make known his sentiments without reserve. See Candid. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an ingenuous manner; openly; fairly; candidly; artlessly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Being required to explain himself, he ingenuously confessed. Ludlow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state or quality of being ingenuous; openness of heart; frankness. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Ingenuity. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Subgenera (Biol.) A subdivision of a genus, comprising one or more species which differ from other species of the genus in some important character or characters; as, the azaleas now constitute a subgenus of Rhododendron. [ 1913 Webster ]