in·tel·lec·tu·al
ˌin-tə-ˈlek-chə-wəl 
-chəl,
-shwəl,
-chü(-ə)l
1
2
a
: given to study, reflection, and speculation
b
: engaged in activity requiring the creative use of the intellect
intellectual playwrights
1
: an intellectual person
2
intellectuals plural, archaic
: intellectual powers
Synonyms
Examples of intellectual in a Sentence
Adjective
the social and intellectual life of the campus
as the daughter of college professors, she's used to being around intellectual people
Noun
He thinks that he's an intellectual, but he doesn't know what he's talking about.
She's a hard worker but she's no great intellectual.
a café where artists and intellectuals mingle
Recent Examples on the Web
Ernesto Lechner, SPIN, 16 Apr. 2024
The San Diego Regional Center — which reports that about 40 percent of clients have autism — supports individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families from birth throughout their lives.
—Lauren J. Mapp, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2024
Only an intellectual clown would compare that to what Biden is doing now with student loans.
— Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., recipient of $616,241 in pandemic relief
That’s a really unfair comparison, the argument goes, because the PPP loans were never intended to be paid back.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2024
Use physical, emotional and intellectual tactics to give an all-round vision of the possibilities.
—Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024
More than 5,000 Kansans with intellectual or developmental disabilities remain on a waitlist for supplemental Medicaid services.
—Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 2024
Over time, 'force' in English has come to encompass a wide range of meanings, from physical strength and power to moral or intellectual influence.
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Seated on a bench next to a lot of intellectual loners—Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, David Souter, Ginsburg herself—Breyer became a consensus seeker, if not always a consensus builder.
—Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Staying competitive requires an ability to adapt to rapidly evolving business norms, a sense of exploration and intellectual curiosity, and the willingness to keep up-to-speed on the latest innovations.
—Ebony Flake, Essence, 5 Apr. 2024
Laurence Russell, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2024
In 1989, The New Yorker reported that Mr. Wright was among several American cartoonists whose work had helped inspire Chinese intellectuals and businessmen in their support for the student uprising that year in Tiananmen Square.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024
One evening, Louis attends a talk by a visiting professor who, having grown up impoverished, now lives in Paris and is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals in France.
—Tope Folarin, The Atlantic, 29 Feb. 2024
And throughout the twentieth century, Black intellectuals such as Ralph Bunche and Merze Tate drew on their own experiences in a racially stratified society to highlight the ways that raw exercise of power underpinned U.S. economic and security policies abroad.
—Naima Green-Riley, Foreign Affairs, 23 Feb. 2024
Judith Butler, for many years a professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at UC Berkeley, might be among the most influential intellectuals alive today.
—Katha Pollitt, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2024
But Oscar Schwartz’s fascinating Drift essay makes clear that that initial spate of discussion overlooked Isaacson’s own intellectual (d)evolution.
—Longreads, 15 Mar. 2024
For the rest of her life, Ross maintained (correctly) that Isherwood’s portrayal of her diminished her reputation as an activist and as an intellectual.
—Adrienne Miller, Vogue, 5 Mar. 2024
The small shop is an urban intellectual’s daydream: there’s ample space for literary speaking events; a few chessboard tables; a secret nook that serves as a children’s section, a tasteful cocktail bar with affordable drinks; small-plate entrées on the horizon.
—Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2024
Adjective
Rock had become ambitious (and intellectual), the New York salsa explosion was at its apex, and the movements of bossa nova and tropicália had coalesced into the all-encompassing MPB—Música Popular Brasileira.
—Ernesto Lechner, SPIN, 16 Apr. 2024
The San Diego Regional Center — which reports that about 40 percent of clients have autism — supports individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families from birth throughout their lives.
—Lauren J. Mapp, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2024
Only an intellectual clown would compare that to what Biden is doing now with student loans.
— Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., recipient of $616,241 in pandemic relief
That’s a really unfair comparison, the argument goes, because the PPP loans were never intended to be paid back.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2024
Use physical, emotional and intellectual tactics to give an all-round vision of the possibilities.
—Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 8 Apr. 2024
More than 5,000 Kansans with intellectual or developmental disabilities remain on a waitlist for supplemental Medicaid services.
—Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 2024
Over time, 'force' in English has come to encompass a wide range of meanings, from physical strength and power to moral or intellectual influence.
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
Seated on a bench next to a lot of intellectual loners—Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, David Souter, Ginsburg herself—Breyer became a consensus seeker, if not always a consensus builder.
—Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Staying competitive requires an ability to adapt to rapidly evolving business norms, a sense of exploration and intellectual curiosity, and the willingness to keep up-to-speed on the latest innovations.
—Ebony Flake, Essence, 5 Apr. 2024
Noun
Snufkin himself, meanwhile, is famously based on Atos Wirtanen, a mercurial intellectual and one of Jansson’s lovers who spent much of his life opposing the rise of Nazism and the Finnish far right, having to briefly live underground due to his then-radical beliefs.
—Laurence Russell, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2024
In 1989, The New Yorker reported that Mr. Wright was among several American cartoonists whose work had helped inspire Chinese intellectuals and businessmen in their support for the student uprising that year in Tiananmen Square.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024
One evening, Louis attends a talk by a visiting professor who, having grown up impoverished, now lives in Paris and is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals in France.
—Tope Folarin, The Atlantic, 29 Feb. 2024
And throughout the twentieth century, Black intellectuals such as Ralph Bunche and Merze Tate drew on their own experiences in a racially stratified society to highlight the ways that raw exercise of power underpinned U.S. economic and security policies abroad.
—Naima Green-Riley, Foreign Affairs, 23 Feb. 2024
Judith Butler, for many years a professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at UC Berkeley, might be among the most influential intellectuals alive today.
—Katha Pollitt, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2024
But Oscar Schwartz’s fascinating Drift essay makes clear that that initial spate of discussion overlooked Isaacson’s own intellectual (d)evolution.
—Longreads, 15 Mar. 2024
For the rest of her life, Ross maintained (correctly) that Isherwood’s portrayal of her diminished her reputation as an activist and as an intellectual.
—Adrienne Miller, Vogue, 5 Mar. 2024
The small shop is an urban intellectual’s daydream: there’s ample space for literary speaking events; a few chessboard tables; a secret nook that serves as a children’s section, a tasteful cocktail bar with affordable drinks; small-plate entrées on the horizon.
—Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'intellectual.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to intellectual
Dictionary Entries Near intellectual
Cite this Entry
“Intellectual.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectual. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
intellectual
1 of 2 adjective
in·tel·lec·tu·al
ˌint-ᵊl-ˈek-ch(ə-w)əl
1
: relating to the intellect or understanding
2
: having intellect to a high degree : engaged in or given to learning and thinking
an intellectual person
3
: requiring study and thought
intellectual games
intellectual
2 of 2 noun
: an intellectual person
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