intellectual
[in-tl-ek-choo-uh l]
- appealing to or engaging the intellect: intellectual pursuits.
- of or relating to the intellect or its use: intellectual powers.
- possessing or showing intellect or mental capacity, especially to a high degree: an intellectual person.
- guided or developed by or relying on the intellect rather than upon emotions or feelings; rational.
- characterized by or suggesting a predominance of intellect: an intellectual way of speaking.
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- a person of superior intellect.
- a person who places a high value on or pursues things of interest to the intellect or the more complex forms and fields of knowledge, as aesthetic or philosophical matters, especially on an abstract and general level.
- an extremely rational person; a person who relies on intellect rather than on emotions or feelings.
- a person professionally engaged in mental labor, as a writer or teacher.
- intellectuals, Archaic.
- the mental faculties.
- things pertaining to the intellect.
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Origin of intellectual
Synonyms
See more synonyms for intellectual on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for intellectually
Contemporary Examples
Or, if your show is about ideas, then I think it has to be intellectually stimulating first.
The second was Marach Agha, 22; according to the Army, Agha may have been deaf or intellectually disabled.
When we did the studio visit I was just really blown away by her personally, intellectually and the work itself.
He was always affable but ultimately unknowable; intellectually incurious but ferociously ambitious.
In many states, the mentally ill or intellectually disabled could be sterilized.
Historical Examples
Intellectually I may make mistakes in deduction, but spiritually I cannot but find God.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
Now, God and his father's fate made him intellectually inferior to the Oriental.
American NotesRudyard Kipling
Germany is wholly alive, physically, intellectually and psychically.
England and GermanyEmile Joseph Dillon
The ground of every revolution had to be intellectually prepared.
Notes on Life and LettersJoseph Conrad
Himself a worshipper of intellect, it was intellectually that he mastered and developed them.
Views and ReviewsWilliam Ernest Henley
intellectual
- of or relating to the intellect, as opposed to the emotions
- appealing to or characteristic of people with a developed intellectintellectual literature
- expressing or enjoying mental activity
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- a person who enjoys mental activity and has highly developed tastes in art, literature, etc
- a person who uses or works with his intellect
- a highly intelligent person
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for intellectually
adv.
late 14c., from intellectual + -ly (2).
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intellectual
adj.
late 14c., "grasped by the understanding" (rather than by the senses), from Old French intellectuel and directly from Latin intellectualis "relating to the understanding," from intellectus "discernment, understanding," from past participle stem of intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence). Intellectual property attested from 1845. Other adjective formations included intellective (late 15c.), intellectile (1670s).
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intellectual
n.
1590s, "mind, intellect," from intellectual (adj.); sense of "an intellectual person" is from 1650s. Related: Intellectuals.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
intellectual
A person who engages in academic study or critical evaluation of ideas and issues. (See intelligentsia.)
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.