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intellectually disabled
adjective
: affected by intellectual disability
intellectually disabled children/adults
The academy students, ages 18 to 21, are intellectually disabled students who are at what's called a transition age and are preparing to be self-sustaining adults with the experience to land and hold down various kinds of jobs.—Juan Siliezar
… lawmakers are poised to pass legislation that will put Florida on the cutting edge in education, savings and employment opportunities for the intellectually disabled.—William March
Examples of intellectually disabled in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Moreover, a personal tragedy involving my uncle, who is severely intellectually disabled, underscores this need.
—Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 17 May 2024
His attorneys also have claimed he is intellectually disabled.
—USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
The attorneys argued the state hadn't met the necessary conditions for resuming executions after the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated arguments that Pye was intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for execution.
—CBS News, 20 Mar. 2024
In 2017, for instance, the Supreme Court ruled that the state court had used the wrong standard in determining that a death row inmate, Bobby J. Moore, was not intellectually disabled.
—Adam Liptak, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2024
The episode finds Peter diagnosed as intellectually disabled.
—Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 30 Sep. 2023
Again, calling your critics intellectually disabled is the kind of juvenile response that can surprise no one, especially not from the impish Rife, who at 28 is technically a millennial but has the haircut and mannerisms of an unfiltered Gen Z influencer.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 23 Nov. 2023
In prior appeals, Green's attorneys had claimed he was intellectually disabled and has had a lifelong history of psychiatric disorders.
—CBS News, 7 Mar. 2023
Whenever the courts decided that certain categories of people couldn’t be executed — such as those who were too young, too intellectually disabled or too mentally ill — they were often given life sentences instead and taken off death row.
—Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'intellectually disabled.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1955, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of intellectually disabled was
in 1955
Dictionary Entries Near intellectually disabled
Cite this Entry
“Intellectually disabled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectually%20disabled. Accessed 17 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
intellectually disabled
adjective
: affected by intellectual disability
Medical Definition
intellectually disabled
adjective
: affected by intellectual disability
intellectually disabled children/adults
State officials and special education advocates are pushing legislation aimed at breaking down barriers they say are keeping thousands of intellectually disabled Bay State students from enrolling in college classes.—Kathleen McKiernan, The Boston Herald
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