intellectual

Study(17)

/ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/

adj 5noun 2

Collocations

ADJ.

astounding, great, important, kind, last, most, right-wing, timeless

His most intellectual friend spent hours debating philosophy at the coffee shop.

VERB + INTELLECTUAL

enjoy, like, look

She really enjoyed the intellectual challenge of solving complex mathematical problems.

INTELLECTUAL + NOUN

activities, castration, conversations, curiosity, e, feat, hobbies, infringement

Her intellectual curiosity led her to pursue a PhD in marine biology.

PREP.

in, in

She has always been interested in intellectual pursuits like reading and philosophy.

ADV.

ever, highly, really

She's a highly intellectual person who always impresses everyone with her thoughtful insights.

Definitions

adj

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

intellectual powers, activities, etc.

1920, Harold Monro, Preface to 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

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 of danger.

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.

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 […]

noun

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.

‘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.’

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 […]

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — a person who uses the mind creatively

intellect

adjective — of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind

adjective — involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct

cerebral

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

public intellectual

A well-known, intelligent, learned person whose written works and other social and cultural contributions are recognized not only by academic audiences and readers, but also by many members of society in general.

"I have always taken the role of public intellectual very, very seriously," said Mark Crispin Miller, 51, a professor of media ecology at New York University. "A public intellectua

Example Bank

intellectual powers, activities, etc.

Wiktionary

1920, Harold Monro, Preface to 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.

Wiktionary

Indeed, this discovery of meaning in symbols may be the most astounding intellectual feat that any human being ever performs—and most humans perform it before they are seven years old!

Wiktionary

‘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.’

Wiktionary

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

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, intellectual is marked as archaic, poetic. Watch for register when choosing this word.

Your note

not saved

0 chars