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as in educational
of or relating to schooling or learning especially at an advanced level research that shows that people from very intellectual backgrounds are happiest with spouses having comparable educations

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

intellectual

2 of 3

noun (1)

intellectuality

3 of 3

noun (2)

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of intellectual
Adjective
The Special Olympics were founded in 1968 by family matriarch Eunice Kennedy Shriver as a nod to her sister Rosemary Kennedy, who was born with intellectual challenges. Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 23 Apr. 2025 Read: An unabashedly intellectual murder mystery In both novels, the artists eventually do solve their mysteries, but largely through the interference of others rather than their own genius. Talya Zax, The Atlantic, 23 Apr. 2025
Noun
One is blond, hair almost white, wears wire glasses, and exudes the presence of a bohemian intellectual. Jeffrey Seller, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025 In 1799, Davy expanded his experiments to include intellectuals, philosophers and poets, like Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in what became known as the nitrous oxide trials. Ella Jeffries, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for intellectual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intellectual
Adjective
  • Our cerebral circuitry changes constantly—every day, new links are made amongst the 86 billion individual neurons in our heads, and old connections are allowed to fall away.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Challenging, cerebral, but without taking itself too seriously?
    Liam Hess, Vogue, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Proponents of a Cold War strategy advocate for a global, systemic form of containment, designed to trap the adversary under the weight of its internal contradictions.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Apr. 2025
  • His goal has not been met of finding $1 trillion in federal savings from waste, fraud and abuse. Veterans Affairs Department: A new internal task force at the mammoth department wants employees to report anti-Christian bias among coworkers going back to the Biden administration.
    Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The study, sponsored by the Consumer Brands Association, examined academic research, studies and data on country obesity rates, and the short-term and long-term effects in dozens of countries where interpretive food warning labels are in place.
    Hank Cardello, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
  • Their parents put a premium on intellectual curiosity, academic achievement and leading an ethically principled life.
    Serge F. Kovaleski, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Your quiet inner knowing is on its way to becoming a steady source of helpful wisdom.
    Colin Bedell, Them., 25 Apr. 2025
  • Its design has changed little since then, still incorporating an inner surface that sits at a 60- to 90-degree angle relative to the user's urine stream.
    Ben Coxworth, New Atlas, 25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Pedagogies Asking Scholarly Questions with JSTOR Daily Help students develop analytic and scholarly questioning skills using a quick activity built on JSTOR Daily roundups and syllabi.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 21 Apr. 2025
  • Here are four ways that scholars can broaden the impact of scholarly research at this particularly moment in time.
    Marshall Shepherd, Forbes.com, 19 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • This definition also includes instance in which the victim is incapable of giving consent because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (include due to the influence of drugs or alcohol) or because of age.
    Baltimore Sun staff, Baltimore Sun, 11 Apr. 2025
  • Without supervision or regulation, kids can easily stumble upon explicit material, including violent and extremist content, that can lead to mental distress, desensitization and a warped perception of the world around them.
    Richard Wistocki, Chicago Tribune, 10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Theft of motor vehicle parts or accessories (subset of larceny) – The unlawful taking of any part or accessory affixed to the interior or exterior of a motor vehicle in a manner which would make the item an attachment of the vehicle or necessary for its operation.
    Baltimore Sun staff, Baltimore Sun, 22 Apr. 2025
  • The house, built in 1971, has an interior space of 1,890 square feet.
    Bay Area Home Report, Mercury News, 22 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • And like other forms of abuse, the effects of FGM/C are irreversible, a girl subjected to FGM/C will carry the physical and psychological consequences for the rest of her life.
    Sydney Iannantuono, Hartford Courant, 21 Apr. 2025
  • The Russian POWs are in Belarus, the ministry said, where they were being provided with medical and psychological care.
    Reuters, USA Today, 20 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Intellectual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intellectual. Accessed 4 May. 2025.

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