intellectual

See also: intel·lectual

English

Alternative forms

• intellectuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French intellectuel, from Latin intellectualis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/, /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃwəl/, /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃəl/

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Adjective

intellectual (comparative more intellectual, superlative most intellectual)

1. Pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.

   intellectual powers, activities, etc.

   • 1920, Harold Monro, Preface to s:The year's at the spring; an anthology of recent poetry

     Pleasure is various, but it cannot exist where the emotions or the imagination have not been powerfully stirred. Whether it be called sensual or intellectual, pleasure cannot be willed

2. Endowed with intellect; having a keen sense of understanding; having the capacity for higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or cleverness

   an intellectual person

   • 1894, Edgar Wilson Nye, “Chapter 30”, in Nye's History of the USA:

     The Fenimore Cooper Indian is no doubt a brave and highly intellectual person, educated abroad, refined and cultivated by foreign travel, graceful in the grub dance or scalp walk-around, yet tender-hearted as a girl, walking by night fifty-seven miles in a single evening to warn his white friends of danger.

3. Suitable for exercising one's intellect; perceived by the intellect

   intellectual employments

   • 1916, Joseph McCabe, “Chapter IX”, in The Tyranny of Shams:

     A good deal of nonsense is written about sport and entertainment. Many of us can, with pleasant ease, suspend a severely intellectual task for a few hours to witness a first-class football match.

4. Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind.

   intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy

5. (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 […]

Antonyms

• nonintellectual

Derived terms

Terms derived from intellectual (adjective)

• antiintellectual
• anti-intellectual
• hyperintellectual
• intellectual capital
• intellectual dark web
• intellectual disability
• intellectual freedom
• intellectual honesty
• intellectualisation
• intellectualish
• intellectualism
• intellectualist
• intellectualistic
• intellectuality
• intellectualization
• intellectual journey
• intellectually
• intellectualness
• intellectualoid
• intellectual property
• intellectual prostitute
• intellectual rights
• neurointellectual
• organic intellectual
• overintellectual
• preintellectual
• pseudo-intellectual
• pseudointellectual
• subintellectual
• superintellectual
• ultraintellectual
• unintellectual

 

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to intellectual

• intellect
• intellectualize
• intelligence
• intelligent
• overintellectualize

Translations

belonging to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive

• Azerbaijani: zehni
• Bulgarian: умствен (bg) (umstven), мисловен (bg) (misloven)
• Catalan: intel·lectual (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 智力的 (zhìlì de)

• Czech: intelektuální (cs)
• Dutch: verstandelijk (nl)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi), henkinen (fi)
• French: intellectuel (fr)
• Galician: intelectual (gl)
• Georgian: ინტელექტუალური (inṭelekṭualuri), გონებრივი (gonebrivi)
• German: intellektuell (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: νοητικός (noētikós)

• Hindi: बौद्धिक (hi) (bauddhik)
• Italian: intellettuale (it)
• Japanese: 知的な (ちてきな, chiteki na)
• Kazakh: зияткерлік (ziätkerlık)
• Khmer: បញ្ញា (km) (paɲɲaa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: intellektuell

  Nynorsk: intellektuell

• Polish: intelektualny (pl)
• Portuguese: intelectual (pt)
• Romanian: intelectual (ro)
• Russian: интеллектуа́льный (ru) (intellektuálʹnyj), у́мственный (ru) (úmstvennyj)
• Spanish: intelectual (es)
• Swedish: intellektuell (sv)
• Tagalog: pang-isipan, makaisipnon
• Turkish: entellektüel (tr), aklî
• Welsh: deallusol, dealltwriaethol

endowed with intellect

• Bulgarian: интелектуален (intelektualen)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi), älykäs (fi), intellektuaalinen (fi)
• Italian: intellettuale (it)
• Maori: ihumanea, uhumanea
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: intellektuell

  Nynorsk: intellektuell

• Portuguese: intelectual (pt)
• Tagalog: pang-isipan, makaisipnon
• Turkish: zeki (tr), akıllı (tr)

suitable for exercising the intellect

• Bulgarian: интелектуален (intelektualen)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi), henkinen (fi); älyperäinen

relating to the understanding

• Finnish: älyllinen (fi), henkinen (fi); mielen (fi), mieli- (fi)

spiritual — see spiritual

Noun

intellectual (plural intellectuals)

1. An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.

   Synonyms: highbrow, academic, scholar

   Coordinate terms: egghead, nerd, geek

   • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:

     It should be noted that there is now no intelligentsia that is not in some sense "Left". Perhaps the last right-wing intellectual was T. E. Lawrence. Since about 1930 everyone describable as an “intellectual” has lived in a state of chronic discontent with the existing order.

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, →OCLC, pages 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.’

2. (archaic) The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, chapter 1, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 2:

     […] although their intellectuals had not failed in the theory of truth, yet did the inservient and brutall faculties control the suggestion of reason […]

Derived terms

• public intellectual

Translations

intelligent person, interested in intellectual matters

• Armenian: մտավոր (hy) (mtavor)
• Azerbaijani: ziyalı (az)
• Belarusian: інтэліге́нт m (intelihjént), інтэліге́нтка f (intelihjéntka), інтэлектуа́л m (inteljektuál), інтэлектуа́лка f (inteljektuálka)
• Bulgarian: интелектуалец m (intelektualec)
• Catalan: intel·lectual (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 知識分子／知识分子 (zh) (zhīshi fènzǐ)

• Czech: intelektuál m
• Finnish: intellektuelli (fi), älykkö (fi)
• French: intellectuel (fr), intello (fr) m or f (informal)
• Galician: intelectual (gl) m or f
• German: Intellektueller (de) m, Intellektuelle (de) f
• Hindi: बुद्धीजीवी (buddhījīvī), मनस्वी (hi) (manasvī)
• Japanese: 知識人 (ja) (ちしきじん, chishikijin)
• Kazakh: зиялы (ziäly)
• Korean: 지식인 (ko) (jisigin)
• Kyrgyz: зыялы (zıyalı), окумал (okumal)
• Macedonian: интелектуалец m (intelektualec)
• Maori: iho pūmanawa, ihumanea, uhumanea
• Persian: روشن‌فکری
• Polish: inteligent (pl) m, inteligentka (pl) f, intelektualista (pl) m, intelektualistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: intelectual (pt) m or f
• Romanian: intelectual (ro) m, intelectuală (ro) f
• Russian: интеллиге́нт (ru) m (intelligént), интеллиге́нтка (ru) f (intelligéntka), интеллектуа́л (ru) m (intellektuál), интеллектуа́лка (ru) f (intellektuálka)
• Swedish: intellektuell (sv) c
• Tagalog: isipnon
• Turkish: aydın (tr)
• Ukrainian: інтеліге́нт m (intelihént), інтеліге́нтка f (intelihéntka), інтелектуа́л m (intelektuál), інтелектуа́лка f (intelektuálka)
• Uyghur: زىيالىي (ziyaliy)

See also

• clerisy
• intelligentsia

References

• “intellectual”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• "intellectual" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 169.