intellectual

adjective

in·tel·lec·tu·al | \ ˌin-tə-ˈlek-chə-wəl

, -chəl, -shwəl, -chü(-ə)l\

Definition of intellectual

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : of or relating to the intellect or its use

b : developed or chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience : rational

c : requiring use of the intellect intellectual games

2a : given to study, reflection, and speculation

b : engaged in activity requiring the creative use of the intellect intellectual playwrights

intellectual

noun

Definition of intellectual (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : an intellectual person

2 intellectuals plural, archaic : intellectual powers

Other Words from intellectual Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More about intellectual

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Other Words from intellectual

Adjective

intellectuality \ ˌin-tə-ˌlek-chə-ˈwa-lə-tē

\ noun

intellectually \ ˌin-tə-ˈlek-chə-wə-lē

, -chə-lē , -shwə-lē , -chü(-ə)-lē \ adverb

intellectualness \ ˌin-tə-ˈlek-chə-wəl-nəs

, -chəl- , -shwəl- , -chü(-ə)l- \ noun

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: Adjective

But women need actual safe spaces—not from intellectual challenge, of course, but from physical threat of harm from men. — Abigail Shrier, WSJ, "The Transgender War on Women," 26 Mar. 2019 Bell had much time to entertain whatever intellectual whimsy flew into his head. — Chuck Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "The State of American Trade Schools," 13 Mar. 2019 So she's definitely got to be [intellectual], able to go on hikes with him and watch the sunset. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "Everything You Need to Know About Noah Centineo's Love Life," 21 Feb. 2019 Psychologists wrote the book on unhealthy aspects of peer pressure, obsessive desire for conformity and acceptance, groupthink and intellectual dishonesty, but seem unable to diagnose and treat their own afflictions. — WSJ, "The Doublespeak on Innate Sex Differences," 25 June 2018 My sensitivity is to the consequential, intellectual dishonesty. — Ezra Klein, Vox, "Ezra and Sam Harris debate race, IQ, identity politics, and much more.," 9 Apr. 2018 Expect a festival of intellectual dishonesty, scientific illiteracy, and scapegoating. — Jack Holmes, Esquire, "Trump's Summit on Violent Video Games Is Going to Be a Mess," 8 Mar. 2018 Isn’t that the very definition of intellectual dishonesty? — Katherine Timpf, National Review, "Rand Paul Is Right," 9 Feb. 2018 At the turn of the 20th century, the fundamentalist movement arose to protest intellectual and theological changes taking place in Protestant churches. — Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, "Historian and author John Fea on Trump’s “court evangelicals” and the long history of Christian nationalism.," 5 Nov. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

During that period, extremists hoping to create an Islamic state battled security forces while carrying out village massacres and targeting journalists, intellectuals and foreigners. ___ Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report. — Aomar Ouali, The Seattle Times, "Algerian army chief calls for president to be declared unfit," 26 Mar. 2019 Compliments to president Trump for the seats conquered in the Senate and the confirmation in crucial states, against everything and everyone: leftist journalists, actors and singers, directors and pseudo-intellectuals. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "The world was watching the 2018 midterms. Here’s how some countries responded.," 7 Nov. 2018 Christophe Guilluy is a geographer, author and public intellectual in France whose parsing of the country’s... — Philip Delves Broughton, WSJ, "‘Twilight of the Elites’ Review: On the Outskirts of ‘Higher France’," 28 Jan. 2019 Conservative intellectuals are currently enjoying a creative alienation from the Republican Party. — Jeet Heer, New Republic, "The Lively Irrelevance of Conservative Magazines," 30 Jan. 2018 Ryan is back to being just a conservative intellectual. — Tara Golshan, Vox, "Paul Ryan wants you to know he has identified what’s wrong with the Republican Party," 17 Dec. 2018 But as her business gained popularity as a gathering place for black intellectuals, it was also targeted by hate crimes. — Cathie Anderson, sacbee, "Carol McNeal, who built a library of black experience at Sacramento bookstore, dies at 86," 10 July 2018 For many young ideological intellectuals, this often led to a worldview in which there seemed to be little choice: either fascism or communism, with no middle ground. — Helen Fry, WSJ, "‘Enemies Within’ Review: Traitors to Their Class," 13 Dec. 2018 But through diligent scholarship, a circle of European intellectuals helped distant gardens bloom in new languages. — The Economist, "How European scholars first encountered the Arab world," 6 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'intellectual.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.