intellectualize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to seek or consider the rational content or form of.
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to make intellectual.
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to analyze (something) intellectually or rationally.
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to ignore the emotional or psychological significance of (an action, feeling, dream, etc.) by an excessively intellectual or abstract explanation.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to make or become intellectual
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(tr) to treat or consider in an intellectual way; rationalize
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of intellectualize
First recorded in 1810–20; intellectual + -ize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“If you’re able to intellectualize that information and verbalize, this isn’t for you,” she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025
You can sit back afterward and intellectualize everything, but when you’re watching it, even when it’s weird, it makes logical sense.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2025
Martiel doesn’t intellectualize slavery’s wake; instead, he makes it terribly present, in the body of a living person: his own.
From New York Times ● May 23, 2024
Levi doesn’t intellectualize it like that, doesn’t have a straightforward intention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
How people who can’t face their own negative emotions intellectualize things?
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
“Don’t say that,” jokes Gerwig at the implication of the film’s more intellectualized leanings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
“Though it’s abstract, it doesn’t strike me as intellectualized or at all forced,” he says.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2021
“I made some kind of intellectualized comment, and then he said, ‘Can you say it in your own words?’
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2021
I don’t know the appeal—I’ve not intellectualized it.
From Salon ● May 24, 2019
We must not go back to our unreal and intellectualized history.
From The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History by Partridge, G.E.
Putting all intellectualizing aside for a moment, the main reason "Peacemaker" succeeds is because it remembers to have a good time while delivering a satisfying wallop to people that we can universally agree are terrible.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2022
There was no looking back or intellectualizing what I do in those moments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2022
There is a logical point behind what I am saying, not just cynical intellectualizing garbage.
From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2017
Even the punk references — and there are always references to punk in fashion — were more focused on intellectualizing disruption, on considering the craftsmanship and taking the long view.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2017
The higher we go in intellectualizing ourselves, the closer we draw to the cosmic consciousness, and the more familiar we become with its laws.
From Freedom Talks No. II by Seton, Julia, M.D.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
