intellectual

See also: intel·lectual

English

Alternative forms

• intellectuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French intellectuel, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin intellectualis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈlɛk(t)ʃʊəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

intellectual (comparative more intellectual, superlative most intellectual)

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

   intellectual powers, activities, etc.

2. 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

3. Suitable for exercising the intellect; formed by, and existing for, the intellect alone; perceived by the intellect

   intellectual employments

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)

• anti-intellectual
• intellectual capital
• intellectual disability

• intellectual honesty
• intellectuality
• intellectual journey

• intellectual property
• intellectual rights
• organic intellectual

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to intellectual

• intellect
• intellectualize

• intelligence
• intelligent

• overintellectualize

Translations

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

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

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: intelektuální
• Dutch: verstandelijk (nl)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi), henkinen (fi)
• French: intellectuel (fr) m, intellectuelle (fr) f
• Galician: intelectual (gl) m or f
• German: intellektuell (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: νοητικός (noētikós)

• Japanese: 知識人 (chishikijin)
• Khmer: បញ្ញា (km) (paɲɲaa)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: intellektuell

  Nynorsk: intellektuell

• Portuguese: intelectual (pt) m or f
• Romanian: intelectual (ro) m or n
• Russian: интеллектуа́льный (ru) (intellektuálʹnyj), у́мственный (ru) (úmstvennyj)
• Spanish: intelectual (es)
• Swedish: intellektuell (sv)
• Tagalog: pang-isipan, makaisipnon
• Turkish: entellektüel (tr), aklî (tr)

endowed with intellect

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

  Bokmål: intellektuell

  Nynorsk: intellektuell

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

relating to the understanding

• Finnish: älyllinen (fi), henkinen (fi); mielen, mieli- (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

spiritual — see spiritual

Noun

intellectual (plural intellectuals)

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

2. (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,^[1]

     […] 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

• Azerbaijani: ziyalı (az)
• Bulgarian: интелектуалец m (intelektualec)
• Catalan: intel·lectual (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: intelektuál m
• Finnish: intellektuelli (fi)
• French: intellectuel (fr)
• Galician: intelectual (gl) m or f
• German: Intellektueller (de) m, Intellektuelle (de) f
• Japanese: 知識人 (ちしきじん, chishikijin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 지식인 (ko) (jisigin)
• Maori: iho pūmanawa, ihumanea, uhumanea
• Persian: روشن‌فکری
• Portuguese: intelectual (pt) m or f
• Romanian: intelectual (ro) m, intelectuală (ro) f
• Russian: интеллиге́нт (ru) m (intelligént), интеллектуа́л (ru) m (intellektuál)
• Swedish: intellektuell (sv) c
• Tagalog: isipnon
• Uyghur: زىيالىي (ziyaliy)

See also

• intelligentsia
• egghead
• nerd
• geek
• highbrow

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.