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definitions

intelligent

[in-tel-i-juhnt]
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adjective

having good understanding or a high mental capacity; quick to comprehend, as persons or animals: an intelligent student.
displaying or characterized by quickness of understanding, sound thought, or good judgment: an intelligent reply.
having the faculty of reasoning and understanding; possessing intelligence: intelligent beings in outer space.
Computers. pertaining to the ability to do data processing locally; smart: An intelligent terminal can edit input before transmission to a host computer.Compare dumb(def 8).
Archaic. having understanding or knowledge (usually followed by of).

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RELATED WORDS

imaginative, inventive, wise, brilliant, knowledgeable, resourceful, creative, bright, perceptive, smart, rational, brainy, well-informed, original, astute, able, acute, alert, alive, apt

Nearby words

  1. intelligence office,
  2. intelligence officer,
  3. intelligence quotient,
  4. intelligence test,
  5. intelligencer,
  6. intelligent card,
  7. intelligent design,
  8. intelligent knowledge-based system,
  9. intelligent terminal,
  10. intelligential

Origin of intelligent

1500–10; < Latin intelligent- (stem of intelligēns, present participle of intelligere, variant of intellegere to understand, literally, choose between), equivalent to intel- (variant of inter- inter-) + -lig- (combining form of leg-, stem of legere to pick up, choose; cf. lection) + -ent- -ent
SYNONYMS FOR intelligent
1. bright. Intelligent, intellectual describe distinctive mental capacity. Intelligent often suggests a natural quickness of understanding: an intelligent reader. Intellectual implies not only having a high degree of understanding, but also a capacity and taste for the higher forms of knowledge: intellectual interests. 2. astute, clever, alert, bright, apt, discerning, shrewd, smart. See sharp.
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ANTONYMS FOR intelligent
1, 2. stupid.
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Related forms
Can be confusedintelligent intelligible intellectual (see synonym study at the current entry)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for intelligent

British Dictionary definitions for intelligent

intelligent

adjective

having or indicating intelligence
having high intelligence; clever
indicating high intelligence; perceptivean intelligent guess
guided by reason; rational
(of computerized functions) able to modify action in the light of ongoing events
(postpositive foll by of) archaic having knowledge or informationthey were intelligent of his whereabouts
Derived Formsintelligently, adverb
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 intelligent

intelligent

adj.

c.1500, a back-formation from intelligence or else from Latin intelligentem (nominative intelligens), present participle of intelligere, earlier intellegere (see intelligence). Intelligent design, as a name for an alternative to atheistic cosmology and the theory of evolution, is from 1999. Related: Intelligently.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper