intellectual disability

American  

[in-tl-ek-choo-uhl dis-uh-bil-i-tee] / ˌɪn tlˈɛk tʃu əl ˌdɪs əˈbɪl ɪ ti /

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

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Etymology

Origin of intellectual disability

First recorded in 1805–10

Example Sentences

That meant this case was no longer going to be a clean vehicle to decide what the IQ line needs to be for intellectual disability under the Eighth Amendment.

From Slate • May 23, 2026

In assessing how those standards play out in the context of intellectual disability, the Supreme Court made clear in 2014 that states could not use “IQ score as conclusive evidence of intellectual capacity.”

From Slate • Dec. 8, 2025

The research team also highlighted an unexpected finding: some participants showed only psychiatric symptoms, even though GRIN2A changes are usually linked to epilepsy or intellectual disability.

From Science Daily • Dec. 2, 2025

Clinicians might also be less frequently assigning other labels such as intellectual disability, formally referred to as mental retardation, some data suggest.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2025

In 2002, there were about a hundred people with mental retardation facing execution when the Court banned the death penalty for people with intellectual disability.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Related Words

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