(1) 1)天赋，创造能力(great ability，esp in producing works of art)[U]：works of～天才作品;a man of～天才;the artistic/musical～of Mozart 莫扎特的艺术/音乐天赋;show great～for improvisation在即席创作方面表现出巨大的天才;There's～in the way this is painted.这幅画能画成这样真是天才。〖同〗gift; 2)天才，才子(person who has genius)[C]：a mathematical～一个数学天才;a budding～at maths在数学方面崭露头角的才子;great scientific～伟大的科学天才;be no～决非天才;〖反〗fool;

(2)做……的非凡才能(special ability or skill for sth)[U，a～][N (for)]：have a～for languages/mathematics/acting/painting 有语言/数学/表演/绘画的天赋;have a～for making friends/teaching maths/managing things有交友/教授数学/管理的才能;have a～for saying the wrong thing/getting into trouble/making enemies老爱说错话/总是陷入麻烦/惯于树敌;

(3)(语言，民族，时代的)特征，精神，原则(prevalent feeling，opinions，taste of a race of people;special character，spirit or principles of a language，a period of time，a nation)[U，the～][N (of)](fml)：the～of the English language/the age/the Renaissance/the Victorian era/the Elizabethan poets/the Greek civilization 英国语言/这个时代/文艺复兴/维多利亚时代/伊丽莎白时期的诗人/希腊文明的特征;the French～法语的特征;

one's good/evil genius 给某人良好/很坏影响的人：His uncle was the young king's evil～. 这个年轻国王的叔叔对他有很坏的影响。

【辨异】genius与ability、faculty、capacity和talent的区别见ABILITY。