# intelligence

Pronunciation: say "in-TEL-i-juhns" /ɪnˈtɛl.ɪ.d͡ʒəns/

## Noun

1. The ability to learn, understand, and think clearly, and to apply knowledge and reasoning in practice.
   - Simple: The ability to learn, understand things, and think well.
   - _Researchers still debate whether intelligence can be captured by a single test score._
   - _Poor nutrition in early childhood can have lasting effects on a person's intelligence._
2. Knowledge about an enemy or hostile activity, often kept secret.
   - Simple: Secret information about an enemy or their plans.
   - _Analysts sifted through intelligence collected from intercepted communications._
   - _The operation relied on accurate intelligence about troop movements._
3. An organization within the government or armed forces whose job is gathering usually secret information on enemies and hostile activity.
   - Simple: A government department that collects secret information about enemies.
   - _He was recruited by naval intelligence during the war._
   - _Foreign intelligence had been monitoring the group for months._
4. A being or entity that possesses the capacity to understand, reason, and learn.
   - Simple: A being or thing that can think and understand.
   - _Philosophers ask whether an artificial intelligence could ever be truly conscious._
   - _The novel features a vast cosmic intelligence guiding human evolution._

## Noun

5. The communication, mutual acquaintance, and familiarity that exists between people. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Friendly contact or the sharing of news between people.

## Origin

Latin intelligentia most likely joins inter- ("between") with legere ("to choose, pick out, read"). It came into Middle English as intelligence by way of Old French. Intelligentsia is a doublet.

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