1 : showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others; "a cagey lawyer"; "too clever to be sound"
2 : (used of persons or artifacts) marked by independence and creativity in thought or action; "an imaginative use of material"; "the invention of the knitting frame by another ingenious English clergyman"- Lewis Mumford; "an ingenious device"; "had an inventive turn of mind"; "inventive ceramics"