Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˌɪntəˈlɛk(t)ʃʊəl/
intellectual
- Belonging to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.
- intellectual powers, activities, etc.
- Endowed with intellect; having the power of understanding; having capacity for the higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or mental capacity
- an intellectual person
- Suitable for exercising the intellect; formed by, and existing for, the intellect alone; perceived by the intellect
- intellectual employments
- Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind.
- intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy
- (archaic, poetic) Spiritual.
- 1805, William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book II, lines 331-334 (eds. Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, & Stephen Gill, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1979):
- I deem not profitless those fleeting moods / Of shadowy exultation; not for this, / That they are kindred to our purer mind / And intellectual life […]
- 1805, William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book II, lines 331-334 (eds. Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, & Stephen Gill, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1979):
- French: intellectuel, intellectuelle
- German: intellektuell
- Portuguese: intelectual
- Russian: интеллектуа́льный
- Spanish: intelectual
- Portuguese: intelectual
intellectual (plural intellectuals)
- An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.
- Synonyms: highbrow
- cot en
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, pp. 20–21:
- ‘You know I hate intellectuals.’
‘You mean you hate people who are cleverer than you are.’
‘Yes. I suppose that's why I like you so much, Tom.’
- ‘You know I hate intellectuals.’
- (archaic) The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, 1650, Book I, Chapter 1, p. 2,
- […] although their intellectuals had not failed in the theory of truth, yet did the inservient and brutall faculties control the suggestion of reason […]
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, 1650, Book I, Chapter 1, p. 2,
- French: intellectuel, intello (informal)
- German: Intellektueller, Intellektuelle
- Portuguese: intelectual
- Russian: интеллиге́нт
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