intellectual
/ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/
intellectual adjective: pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.
Adjective
intellectual (comparative more intellectual, superlative most intellectual)
- Pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.
- intellectual powers, activities, etc.
- 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 willed1920, Harold Monro, Preface to The year's at the spring; an anthology of recent poetry
- 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
- 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...1894, Edgar Wilson Nye, “Chapter 30”, in Nye's History of the USA
- Suitable for exercising one's intellect; perceived by the intellect
- intellectual employments
- 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.1916, Joseph McCabe, “Chapter IX”, in The Tyranny of Shams
- Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind.
- intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy
- Spiritual.
- 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)
Noun
intellectual (plural intellectuals)
- An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.
- 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.1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn
- ‘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.’1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 14
- The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.
- […] 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, chapter 1, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 2
intellectual meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
intellectual in Hindi
- belonging to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive
- बौद्धिक bauddhik
- intelligent person, interested in intellectual matters
- बुद्धीजीवी buddhījīvī, मनस्वी manasvī
intellectual in Tamil
- அறிவாளி, அறிஞர், அறிவுத்திறனுடையார், ஆய்வாளர், அறிவுஜீவி, பேரறிஞர்
intellectual in Marathi
- बौद्धिक
intellectual in Urdu
- intellectual
- ذہنی zahnī, ذہین zahīn
More languagesFewer languages
- intellectual in Bengali
- আঁতেল ãtel, বুদ্ধিবৃত্তিক buddhibrittik
- intellectual in Malayalam
- ബുദ്ധിവിഷയകമായ, മാനസികമായ, ബുദ്ധിയെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, ബുദ്ധിപരം
- intellectual in Kannada
- ಬುದ್ಧಿಜೀವಿ, ಮೇಧಾವಿ, ತಿಳಿವಳಿಕಸ್ಥ, ಪ್ರಾಜ್ಞ
- intellectual in Punjabi
- ਬੁੱਧੀਜੀਵੀ
- intellectual in Gujarati
- બૌદ્ધિક
- intellectual in Odia
- ବୁଦ୍ଧିବୃତ୍ତିକ, ବୌଦ୍ଧିକ
- intellectual in Nepali
- बौद्धिक
- intellectual in Tagalog
- pang-isipan, makaisipnon, isipnon
- intellectual in Indonesian
- cendekiawan, intelektual
- intellectual in Persian
- روشنفکر rowšan-fekr
- intellectual in Vietnamese
- giới trí thức, trí thức
Examples of intellectual in a sentence
- He is an intellectual giant, and I have great respect for him.
- To his great intellectual powers his published remains bear abundant witness.
- They didn't realize he had this great deal of intellectual depth.
Synonyms of intellectual
Antonyms
Forms of intellectual
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more intellectual |
| superlative | most intellectual |
| alternative form | intellectuall |
| Noun | |
| plural | intellectuals |
Origin of intellectual
From Old French intellectuel, from Latin intellectualis.
Words formed from intellectual
- alpha-thalassemia-intellectual disability syndrome
- antiintellectual
- anti-intellectual
- blepharophimosis-ptosis-intellectual disability syndrome
- hyperintellectual
- intellectual capital
- intellectual dark web
- intellectual developmental disorder
- intellectual disability
- intellectual freedom
- intellectual honesty
- intellectualisation
- intellectualish
- intellectualism
- intellectualist
- intellectualistic
- intellectuality
- intellectualization
- intellectual journey
- intellectually
- intellectual masturbation
- intellectualness
- intellectualoid
- intellectual property
- intellectual prostitute
- intellectual rights
- neurointellectual
- organic intellectual
- overintellectual
- preintellectual
- pseudo-intellectual
- pseudointellectual
- subintellectual
- superintellectual
- ultraintellectual
- unintellectual
- public intellectual
Phrases with intellectual
Questions about intellectual
- What does intellectual mean?
- Intellectual means pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.
- What is intellectual in Hindi?
- Intellectual in Hindi is बौद्धिक (bauddhik), बुद्धीजीवी (buddhījīvī), मनस्वी (manasvī). See Intellectual meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is intellectual?
- Intellectual can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce intellectual?
- Intellectual is pronounced /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/.
Words near intellectual in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intellectual (page history and authors); intellectual (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intellectual (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ذہنی (Urdu) (page history and authors); আঁতেল (Bengali) (page history and authors); intellectual (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intellectual (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intellectual (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); intellectual (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); intellectual (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); intellectual (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-intellectual.ogg.
Cite this entry: “intellectual.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intellectual. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.