intellectual
/ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/
intellectual means pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive. It carries an Arena rating of 1556, earned across 27 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, intellectual ranks #515 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words, #1,494 of 17,128 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #10,190 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #10,492 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
intellectual is pronounced /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/.
Why “intellectual” is a great word
Pertaining to or characterized by the intellect, especially in a superior or learned capacity. Its lineage traces through Old French *intellectuel*, from Latin *intellectualis*, from *intellectus* (“understanding, intellect”), itself from *intellegere* (“to understand”); it first entered the English record in the late fourteenth century. Unlike “cerebral,” which emphasizes detached, clinical analysis, or “visceral,” which denotes raw, instinctual feeling, “intellectual” implies a cultivated engagement with the architecture of ideas. It is the quiet hum of concentration in a library carrel, the precise geometry of a well-argued paragraph, and the deliberate weight of a well-chosen book—a commitment to the life of the mind not merely to know, but to understand against the constant pull of simpler truths.
Etymology
From Old French intellectuel, from Latin intellectualis.
adj
- Pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.e.g.“intellectual powers, activities, etc.”
- Endowed with intellect; having a keen sense of understanding; having the capacity for higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or clevernesse.g.“an intellectual person”
- Suitable for exercising one's intellect; perceived by the intellecte.g.“intellectual employments”
- Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind.e.g.“intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy”
- Spiritual.e.g.“I deem not profitless those fleeting moods / Of shadowy exultation; not for this, / That they are kindred to our purer mind / And intellectual life […]” — 1805, William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book II, lines 331-334 (eds. Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, & Stephen Gill, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1979)
noun
- An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.
- The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.e.g.“[…] although their intellectuals had not failed in the theory of truth, yet did the inservient and brutall faculties control the suggestion of reason […]” — 1646, Thomas Browne, chapter 1, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 2:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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