intellectual
/ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.30 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
5
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.
adj
Endowed with intellect; having a keen sense of understanding; having the capacity for higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or cleverness
adj
Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind.
noun
An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.
Example Sentences
- "intellectual powers, activities, etc."
- "1920, Harold Monro, Preface to The year's at the spring; an anthology of recent poetry Pleasure is various, but it cannot exist where the emotions or the imagination have not been powerfully stirred. Whether it be called sensual or intellectual, pleasure cannot be willed"
- "Indeed, this discovery of meaning in symbols may be the most astounding intellectual feat that any human being ever performs—and most humans perform it before they are seven years old!"
- "an intellectual person"
- "The Fenimore Cooper Indian is no doubt a brave and highly intellectual person, educated abroad, refined and cultivated by foreign travel, graceful in the grub dance or scalp walk-around, yet tender-hearted as a girl, walking by night fifty-seven miles in a single evening to warn his white friends of danger."
- "intellectual employments"
Etymology
From Old French intellectuel, from Latin intellectualis.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *leǵ-, intellectuel
Usage
Inflected Forms
more intellectual (comparative)
most intellectual (superlative)
intellectuall (alternative)
intellectuals (plural)