intelligentsia
/ɪntɛlɪˈd͡ʒɛntsɪə/US/ɪntɛləˈd͡ʒɛn(t)si.ə/
intelligentsia noun: the intellectual elite of a society, particularly in Marxist doctrine.
Noun
intelligentsia (countable and uncountable, plural intelligentsias)
- The intellectual elite of a society, particularly in Marxist doctrine.
- […] среди рабочих растет страстное стремление к знанию и к социализму, среди рабочих выделяются настоящие герои, которые — несмотря на безобразную обстановку своей жизни, несмотря на отупляющую каторжную работу на фабрике, — находят в себе столько характера и силы воли, чтобы учиться, учиться и...1967 [1899], Vladimir Lenin, “Попятное направление в русской социал-демократии”, in Ленин В. И. ― Полное собрание сочинений, volume 4, page 269; English translation from “A Retrograde Trend in...
- 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
- Synonyms:
- clerisy
intelligentsia meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
intelligentsia in Hindi
- intellectual elite
- प्रबुद्ध लोग prabuddh log
intelligentsia in Tamil
- அறிவுஜீவிகள், அறிவுஜீவிகளின் குழாம்
intelligentsia in Urdu
- دانشوران
intelligentsia in Malayalam
- intelligent people, intellectuals, academics
- ബുദ്ധിജീവിവിഭാഗം, സംസ്കൃതചിത്തരും ഉദ്ബുദ്ധരുമായ ആളുകൾ, ധിഷണാശാലികൾ, ബുദ്ധിജീവികൾ, മനീഷികൾ, ബുദ്ധിശാലികൾ
More languagesFewer languages
- intelligentsia in Tagalog
- santalinuhan
- intelligentsia in Arabic
- أَنْتِلِيجِنْسْيَا ʔantilijinsyā, أَهْل اَلْفَكْر ʔahl al-fakr
- intelligentsia in Indonesian
- inteligensia
- intelligentsia in Persian
- اینتلیجنتسیا intelijentsiyâ, روشنفکران rowšanfekrân
- intelligentsia in Thai
- ปัญญาชน bpan-yaa-chon
- intelligentsia in Vietnamese
- giới trí thức
Synonyms of intelligentsia
Forms of intelligentsia
| plural | intelligentsias |
|---|
Origin of intelligentsia
From Russian интеллиге́нция (intelligéncija) or Polish inteligencja, from Latin intellegentia (“intelligence”). Doublet of intelligence.
Words formed from intelligentsia
Questions about intelligentsia
- What does intelligentsia mean?
- Intelligentsia means the intellectual elite of a society, particularly in Marxist doctrine.
- What is intelligentsia in Hindi?
- Intelligentsia in Hindi is प्रबुद्ध लोग (prabuddh log). See Intelligentsia meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is intelligentsia?
- Intelligentsia is a noun.
- How do you pronounce intelligentsia?
- Intelligentsia is pronounced /ɪntɛlɪˈd͡ʒɛntsɪə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of intelligentsia?
- The plural of intelligentsia is intelligentsias.
Words near intelligentsia in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intelligentsia (page history and authors); intelligentsia (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intelligentsia (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intelligentsia (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-intelligentsia.wav.
Cite this entry: “intelligentsia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intelligentsia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.