intellectual disability

[ in-tl-ek-choo-uhl dis-uh-bil-i-tee ]

noun

1. a developmental disorder characterized in varying degrees by significant limitations on intellectual abilities, such as learning, problem solving, and reasoning, and on adaptive abilities such as social and practical skills: the diagnostic term intellectual disability replaced the older designation mental retardation in the 2010s. : ID

Word History and Origins

Origin of intellectual disability¹

First recorded in 1805–10

Example Sentences

An IQ below 70 generally indicates someone with intellectual disability (ID).

From The Daily Beast

First, there may have been fewer people with intellectual disability than there are now.

From The Daily Beast

Rudy is also intellectually delayed—an IQ test placed him at the borderline of intellectual disability.

From The Daily Beast

Nay, though one went from the dead, he could not bring it home to her that unsatisfied sex- uality is an intellectual disability.

From Project Gutenberg

For some of the main historic facts on intellectual disability, see Westermarck, pp. 264-277.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cognitive impairment
• debilitation
• impairment
• incapacitation
• limitation
• restriction