What is "genius"

Genius \Gen"ius\, n.; pl. E. Geniuses; in sense 1, L. Genii. [L. genius, prop., the superior or divine nature which is innate in everything, the spirit, the tutelar deity or genius of a person or place, taste, talent, genius, from genere, gignere, to beget, bring forth. See Gender, and cf. Engine.]

1. A good or evil spirit, or demon, supposed by the ancients to preside over a man's destiny in life; a tutelary deity; a supernatural being; a spirit, good or bad. Cf. Jinnee.

   The unseen genius of the wood.
   --Milton.

   We talk of genius still, but with thought how changed! The genius of Augustus was a tutelary demon, to be sworn by and to receive offerings on an altar as a deity.
   --Tylor.

2. The peculiar structure of mind with which each individual is endowed by nature; that disposition or aptitude of mind which is peculiar to each man, and which qualifies him for certain kinds of action or special success in any pursuit; special taste, inclination, or disposition; as, a genius for history, for poetry, or painting.

3. Peculiar character; animating spirit, as of a nation, a religion, a language.

4. Distinguished mental superiority; uncommon intellectual power; especially, superior power of invention or origination of any kind, or of forming new combinations; as, a man of genius.

   Genius of the highest kind implies an unusual intensity of the modifying power.
   --Coleridge.

5. A man endowed with uncommon vigor of mind; a man of superior intellectual faculties and creativity; as, Shakespeare was a rare genius.

   Syn: Genius, Talent.

   Usage: Genius implies high and peculiar gifts of nature, impelling the mind to certain favorite kinds of mental effort, and producing new combinations of ideas, imagery, etc. Talent supposes general strength of intellect, with a peculiar aptitude for being molded and directed to specific employments and valuable ends and purposes. Genius is connected more or less with the exercise of imagination, and reaches its ends by a kind of intuitive power. Talent depends more on high mental training, and a perfect command of all the faculties, memory, judgment, sagacity, etc. Hence we speak of a genius for poetry, painting. etc., and a talent for business or diplomacy. Among English orators, Lord Chatham was distinguished for his genius; William Pitt for his pre["e]minent talents, and especially his unrivaled talent for debate.

   Genius loci[L.], the genius or presiding divinity of a place; hence, the pervading spirit of a place or institution, as of a college, etc.

late 14c., "tutelary god (classical or pagan)," from Latin genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit, incarnation, wit, talent;" also "prophetic skill," originally "generative power," from root of gignere "beget, produce" (see kin), from PIE root *gen- "produce." Sense of "characteristic disposition" is from 1580s. Meaning "person of natural intelligence or talent" and that of "natural ability" are first recorded 1640s.

a. (context informal English) ingenious, very clever, or original. n. (context eulogistic English) Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.

1. n. someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality; "Mozart was a child genius"; "he's smart but he's no Einstein" [syn: mastermind, brain, Einstein]

2. unusual mental ability [syn: brilliance]

3. someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field [syn: ace, adept, champion, sensation, maven, mavin, virtuoso, hotshot, star, superstar, whiz, whizz, wizard, wiz]

4. exceptional creative ability [syn: wizardry]

5. a natural talent; "he has a flair for mathematics"; "he has a genius for interior decorating" [syn: flair]

6. [also: genii (pl)]

In Roman religion, the genius (; plural geniī) is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing. Much like a guardian angel, the genius would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died. For women it was the Juno spirit that would accompany each of them. The Greeks called their genii daemons, and believed in them long before the Romans.

A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability, creative productivity, universality in genres or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of new advances in a domain of knowledge. Despite the presence of scholars in many subjects throughout history, many geniuses have shown high achievements only in a single kind of activity. There is no scientifically precise definition of genius, and the question of whether the notion itself has any real meaning has long been a subject of debate, although psychologists are converging on a definition that emphasizes creativity and eminent achievement. Usually genius is associated with talent, but many authors (for example Cesare Lombroso) systematically distinguish these terms.

Genius is a newspaper cartoon series by Scottish ( Glaswegian) artist John Glashan that appeared in The Observer newspaper in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1983.

The chief characters were Anode Enzyme and Lord Doberman. Their adventures were mostly surreal and the humour relied heavily upon Glashan's imaginative watercolour artwork.

Genius often refers to a person with distinguished mental abilities.

Genius may also refer to:

Genius is a 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie directed by Rod Daniel.

Genius is a 2003 direct-to-video American dramatic film, written and directed by Babar Ahmed. The film was Ahmed's debut feature film. It was screened at several film festivals receiving multiple awards and then released straight to video.

"Genius" is a song by British Industrial metal band Pitchshifter, released in 1997, from their album www.pitchshifter.com. It is usually considered one of the key songs that helped the band be successful, and is one of their most recognised songs.

Genius is a free program that helps users memorize information.

Genius is a 2016 British-American biographical drama film directed by Michael Grandage and written by John Logan, based on the 1978 National Book Award-winner Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg. The film stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Dominic West and Guy Pearce. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.

Genius is a BBC Radio 4 comedy gameshow presented by comedian Dave Gorman. Listeners send in 'genius' ideas which are considered by Gorman and a guest before a studio audience, with a different guest for each show. One series of five episodes was broadcast between 27 October and 24 November 2005, with a second series of six episodes broadcast between 7 September and 12 October 2006 and a third series between 1 October and 5 November 2007. A Christmas special was broadcast on 22 December 2008. An unbroadcast television pilot was made in November 2007, with a full series recorded for BBC Two in September 2008.

The series was created by Ali Crockatt and David Scott, and is produced by Simon Nicholls.

The concept of genius, in literary theory and literary history, derives from the later 18th century, when it began to be distinguished from ingenium in a discussion of the genius loci, or "spirit of the place." It was a way of discussing essence, in that each place was supposed to have its own unique and immutable nature, but this essence was determinant, in that all persons of a place would be infused or inspired by that nature. In the early nationalistic literary theories of the Augustan era, each nation was supposed to have a nature determined by its climate, air, and fauna that made a nation's poetry, manners, and art singular. It created national character.

T.V.F. Brogan argues that "genius" is a middle term in the evolution of the idea of inspiration and poetic ability from a belief in an external source ( afflatus, or divine infection, and poetic phrenzy, or divine madness) and an internal source ( imagination and the subconscious). However, the concept became nearly identical with poetic madness and divine madness in later Romanticism. The word itself was conflated with the Latin ingenium (natural ability) by the time of the Renaissance, and it thereby becomes a natural spirit or natural essence unique to the individual and yet derived from the place. In this sense, it is still a term synonymous with skill.

Genius is a comedy game show on BBC Two, adapted from the original radio series hosted by the comedian Dave Gorman. On Genius, members of the public submit a range of unusual ideas and inventions for Gorman and guest celebrity judges to decide whether the idea is "Genius". The first series began airing on 20 March 2009, following the success of an unbroadcast pilot.

A second series started filming in May 2010, with quite a few changes to the format. Six episodes were recorded and began broadcasting on 27 September 2010. Genius was axed after the 2nd series by the BBC. When asked on Twitter if it was coming back Dave Gorman said, "Afraid not". There are currently no plans to bring the show back.

Genius (also known as the Genius Math Tool) is a free open source numerical computing environment and programming language, similar in some aspects to MATLAB, GNU Octave, Mathematica and Maple. Genius is aimed at mathematical experimentation rather than computation intensive tasks. It is also very useful as just a calculator. The programming language is called GEL and aims to have a mathematically friendly syntax. The software comes with a command line and a GUI interface which uses the GTK+ libraries. The graphical version supports both 2D and 3D plotting. The graphical version includes a set of tutorials originally aimed at in class demonstrations.

Genius is the second album from Krizz Kaliko, an American rapper from Kansas City, Missouri, which was released on July 14, 2009. Confirmed guests include Tech N9ne, E-40, Kutt Calhoun and Big Scoob.

On July 7, 2009, a music video for the single "Misunderstood" was released on the Strange Music YouTube Account.

When discussing the song "Misunderstood" in an interview, Krizz revealed the inspiration behind the production of the song. The idea struck him while watching an infomercial for the 1960s show, The Munsters. He called up the producer, Michael Summers, and told him to "youtube the Munsters theme song, then call me back and I'll tell you how to do this beat." He notes that several of the instruments used to construct the beat are the same used to compose the Munsters theme.

Genius is an online media knowledge base founded on October 2009 by Mahbod Moghadam, Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory. The site allows users to provide annotations and interpretation of song lyrics, news stories, sources, poetry, and documents.

Launched as Rap Genius with a focus on rap, the site expanded in 2014 to cover other forms of media, such as pop, literature and R&B, and an annotation-embedded platform. That same year, an iPhone app was released. To reflect these new goals, the site re-launched as Genius in July 2014. An Android version was released in August 2015.

Genius is a 2012 released Telugu film directed by Anchor Omkar. It features Havish of Nuvvila fame and Sanusha in the lead roles. Made on a budget of Rs.110 million , Genius features Havish, Sanusha, Ashwin Babu, Vinoth and Abhinaya in the lead, while Tamil actor R. Sarath Kumar will be seen in an important role. Composer Joshua Sridhar has given the music for the film, produced by Dasari Kiran Kumar. Writer Chinni Krishna, who has penned down stories for blockbuster Telugu movies, such as "Narasimha Naidu", "Indra" and "Gangotri", has written the film's narrative. the movie got negative reviews and was a box-office disaster.