intuitive

adjective

in·​tu·​i·​tive in-ˈtü-ə-tiv How to pronounce intuitive (audio)
-ˈtyü-
1
: possessing or given to intuition or insight
an intuitive mind
2
a
: known or perceived by intuition : directly apprehended
had an intuitive awareness of his sister's feelings
b
: knowable by intuition
intuitive truths
c
: based on or agreeing with intuition
intuitive responses
makes intuitive sense
d
: readily learned or understood
software with an intuitive interface
3
: knowing or perceiving by intuition
intuitively adverb
intuitiveness noun

Did you know?

Does intuitive have anything to do with a sixth sense?

Nowadays, we often see intuitive used in contexts pertaining to technology that is easy to understand. A smartphone with an “intuitive interface” is one that doesn't need much explaining; you can usually figure out how it works as soon as you fire it up.

The related noun intuition, meanwhile, describes a feeling of knowing or understanding something without evident rational thought and inference. A parent's intuition might tell him or her that a child is in danger, even if there is no logical reason to believe so.

So does intuitive have anything to do with what is often called the sixth sense? Well, the sixth sense is defined as "a keen intuitive power." It is synonymous with ESP or extrasensory perception. As its name implies, ESP describes a purported ability to know something that cannot be known by normal use of the senses.

The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) used the term intuitive substage to refer to the stage of cognitive development when children have acquired a vast amount of knowledge but have not considered how they acquired it, so they accept it as true.

An interface is intuitive because it makes sense according to what we expect from how older interfaces are designed. A parent's intuitive sense of danger may still be prompted by subtle hints that things just aren't as they should be, even if the parent cannot identify exactly how. So while sixth sense refers to the ability to acquire knowledge from beyond the five senses, intuitive tends to apply more to knowledge absorbed through experience, even when not immediately recognized as such.

Examples of intuitive in a Sentence

The controls of an airplane are intuitive. Push to nose down, pull to nose up, turn left, turn right. Stephan Wilkinson, Popular Science, December 2002
… but most of the literature was political rather than scientific, more interested in … exalting the irrational and intuitive over the rational and quantifiable. Paddy Chayefsky, Artificial Paradises, (1978) 1999
Galileo had made an intuitive jump to what we now call Newton's first law of motion: a body in motion tends to remain in motion. Leon Lederman et al., The God Particle, 1993
She has an intuitive mind. a doctor with an intuitive awareness of his patients' concerns The argument makes intuitive sense. The software has an intuitive interface.
Recent Examples on the Web The instrument panel configuration is multiuser and intuitive. James Raia, The Mercury News, 10 Mar. 2024 Under the Pisces new moon, establish a spiritual or intuitive practice to improve your health. USA TODAY, 10 Mar. 2024 Launched last week, the Apple Sports app is mostly sleek and mostly intuitive, as Apple products tend to be. Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2024 The Current State Of UI/UX Today, a traditional approach to UI/UX is marked by considerable investments in usability research and the development of various interface elements to improve the overall user experience and make the user interface intuitive. Ilya Gandzeichuk, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 Molly Goddard’s emotionally intuitive abstracts were especially beautiful, and Simone Rocha exhibited a newly expansive narrative scale to her work through its integration across cities, fashion categories, and frames of thought. Sarah Mower, Vogue, 20 Feb. 2024 This means having a seamless, intuitive onboarding process that guides users through all the features of your software. Expert Panel®, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 Consider height, symmetry and balance for the most appealing result There’s an art to arranging pictures on a wall, and some of the elements to consider aren’t entirely intuitive. Stacey Colino, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024 But where other directors might turn to overt, didactic arguments to make their point, Miyazaki uses a more accessible, intuitive dream logic. Nina Li Coomes, The Atlantic, 23 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'intuitive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

see intuition

First Known Use

circa 1645, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Time Traveler
The first known use of intuitive was circa 1645

Dictionary Entries Near intuitive

Cite this Entry

“Intuitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intuitive. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

intuitive

adjective
in·​tu·​itive
in-ˈt(y)ü-ət-iv
1
: knowing or understanding by intuition
an intuitive person
2
: having or characterized by intuition
an intuitive mind
3
: known or understood by intuition
intuitive knowledge
intuitively adjective
intuitiveness noun
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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