Intellectual

Pronunciation

• Canada IPA: /ˌɪntəˈlÉ›ktʃuÉ™l/

Alternative forms

• intellectuall obsolete

Origin

From Old French intellectuel, from Latin intellectualis

Full definition of intellectual

Adjective

1. Belonging to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive; as, intellectual powers, activities, etc.
2. Endowed with intellect; having the power of understanding; having capacity for the higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or mental capacity; as, an intellectual person.
3. Suitable for exercising the intellect; formed by, and existing for, the intellect alone; perceived by the intellect; as, intellectual employments.
4. Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind; as, intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy.
5. (archaic, poetic) Spiritual.
• 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):I deem not profitless those fleeting moods
  Of shadowy exultation; not for this,
  That they are kindred to our purer mind
  And intellectual life ...

Antonyms

• non-intellectual

Derived terms

Related terms

Noun

1. An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.
2. (archaic) The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.

Derived terms

• public intellectual