# intellectual

Pronunciation: say "in-tuh-LEK-choo-uhl" /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/

## Adjective

1. Relating to or performed by the mind; involving thought rather than feeling or physical action.
   - Simple: Having to do with thinking, learning, or using the mind.
   - _The debate club gave students an outlet for intellectual challenge._
   - _She approached the problem with intellectual rigor rather than emotion._
3. Having strong mental powers; intelligent, clever, and capable of deep understanding or higher thought.
   - Simple: Smart and quick to understand, and able to learn and think well.
   - _He was a deeply intellectual man who grasped new ideas instantly._
   - _Truly intellectual thinkers question even their own assumptions._
4. Suited to exercising the mind, or grasped through thought rather than through the senses.
   - Simple: Made to make you think, or understood by thinking rather than by sight or touch.
   - _The retreat promised intellectual stimulation through seminars and debates._
   - _For Plato, beauty was an intellectual object known only through reason._
5. Concerned with the understanding or the workings of the mind.
   - Simple: Having to do with the mind and how people understand things.
   - _The philosopher's work focused on intellectual processes like memory and reason._
   - _Early psychology began as an intellectual study of perception and thought._

## Noun

2. A learned, intelligent person, especially one who studies and discusses serious or scholarly subjects.
   - Simple: A smart, well-educated person who likes to think and talk about ideas.
   - _The conference drew intellectuals from universities across the country._
   - _As a public intellectual, she wrote essays that shaped national debate._

## Noun

6. The intellect or understanding; the mind's powers or faculties. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The power of the mind to think and understand.

## Adjective

7. Spiritual; relating to the soul or higher, non-physical realm rather than the body. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Having to do with the spirit or soul rather than the body.
   - _The hymn celebrated an intellectual radiance untouched by earthly things._
   - _Her verse spoke of an intellectual love that lifts the spirit upward._

## Origin

It comes from Old French intellectuel, which in turn comes from the Latin word intellectualis.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/intellectual (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).