1
as in cerebral
much given to learning and thinking
as the daughter of college professors, she's used to being around intellectual people
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2
as in internal
of or relating to the mind
intellectual pursuits such as reading and studying
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3
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
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as in nerd
a person with strong intellectual interests
discovered that in politics a reputation for being an intellectual was regarded as a liability
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of intellectual
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
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
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
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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
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Challenging, cerebral, but without taking itself too seriously?—
Liam Hess,
Vogue,
14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Per usual, every internal refresh of the Framework Laptop 13 comes with another slate of external parts.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
24 Apr. 2025
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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
Noun
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He’s also been transformed into a stereotypical, lightsaber-brandishing nerd with a wardrobe of wacky T-shirts.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Apr. 2025
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The guys who were the heads of the club were track kids; fit, secret nerds.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
22 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Yemane’s academic ambitions led him to study architecture, earning both undergraduate and master’s degrees.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2025
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The law says funds must go to traditional academic expenses like private school tuition or homeschool curricula and textbooks, plus a few other costs like transportation.—
Audrey Dutton,
ProPublica,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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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
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His inner conversation must be very loud and very extreme. Dedra, on the other hand, is a zealot.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
25 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Deadline asks the Festival chief whether Series Mania is focused on the highbrow of the drama spectrum.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
6 Mar. 2025
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Wagner would be a sleepless highbrow’s favorite; the long, lush, unbroken lines of music share with the white-noise hum of the air-conditioner or the thrum of the painstaking lecture the quality of being absorbing without offering undue eventfulness.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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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
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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
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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
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The World Health Organization defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon which is characterized by feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance from one's job, and reduced professional efficacy.—
Daniel R. Depetris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Intellectual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intellectual. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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