intelligence

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English

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Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English intelligence, from Old French intelligence, from Latin intelligentia, which is from inter- (“between”) + legere (“choose, pick out, read”), or Proto-Italic *legō (“to care”). Doublet of intelligentsia.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈtɛl.ɪ.d͡ʒəns/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural intelligences)

  1. (chiefly uncountable) Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn.
    • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5
      Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies with self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness of mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.
    • 1936 Feb., F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up", Esquire:
      ...the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
    • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
  2. (chiefly uncountable) The quality of making use or having made use of such capacities: depth of understanding, mental quickness.
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  3. (countable) An entity that has such capacities.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto LXXXV:
      The great Intelligences fair / That range above our mortal state, / In circle round the blessed gate, / Received and gave him welcome there.
    • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 102:
      The living intelligence, the Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of heaven, and the thing was now but a mere intricate device of metal whirling to destruction.
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 275:
      But there are latent powers within man alone that are not yet fully understood and [...] we cannot definitely state what is, and what is not, due to the interference or influence of discarnate intelligences.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 228:
      He passes beyond the projections and thought forms of his own creation to the wholly other and independent world of the angelic intelligences.
  4. (chiefly uncountable) Information, usually secret, about an enemy or about hostile activities.
  5. (countable) A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
  6. (dated) Acquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin intelligentia (“the act of choosing between, intelligence”), from intellegō (“understand”), from inter (“between”) + legō (“choose, pick out, read”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛ̃.tɛ.li.ʒɑ̃s/ ~ /ɛ̃.te.li.ʒɑ̃s/
  • audio:(file)

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

  1. intelligence; cleverness
    C’est un homme d’une rare intelligence.
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  2. comprehension

Derived terms

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English intelligence. Doublet of intelligenza and intellighenzia.

Pronunciation

Noun

intelligence f (invariable)

  1. a political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information

References

  1. ^ intelligence in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Middle French

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

  1. intelligence
  2. comprehension
    • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 10:
      Je souhaiterois avoir plus parfaicte comprehension des choses, mais je ne la veux pas achepter si cher qu’elle couste.
      I would like to have a more perfect knowledge of everything, but I don't want to buy it for how much it costs

Old French

Noun

intelligence oblique singular, f (oblique plural intelligences, nominative singular intelligence, nominative plural intelligences)

  1. comprehension
  2. meaning
  3. ability to comprehend

Descendants

  • → English: intelligence
  • French: intelligence

References

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