intelligent

[in-tel-i-juhnt]

adjective

1. having good understanding or a high mental capacity; quick to comprehend, as persons or animals.

   an intelligent student.

   Synonyms: bright
   Antonyms: stupid

2. displaying or characterized by quickness of understanding, sound thought, or good judgment.

   an intelligent reply.

   Synonyms: smart, shrewd, discerning, apt, bright, alert, clever, astute
   Antonyms: stupid

3. having the faculty of reasoning and understanding; possessing intelligence.

   intelligent beings in outer space.

4. Computers.,  pertaining to the ability to do data processing locally; smart.

   An intelligent terminal can edit input before transmission to a host computer.

5. Archaic.,  having understanding or knowledge (usually followed byof ).

intelligent

/ ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒənt /

adjective

1. having or indicating intelligence

2. having high intelligence; clever

3. indicating high intelligence; perceptive

   an intelligent guess

4. guided by reason; rational

5. (of computerized functions) able to modify action in the light of ongoing events

6. archaic,  having knowledge or information

   they were intelligent of his whereabouts

Other Word Forms

• intelligently adverb
• hyperintelligent adjective
• hyperintelligently adverb
• nonintelligent adjective
• nonintelligently adverb
• preintelligent adjective
• preintelligently adverb
• quasi-intelligent adjective
• quasi-intelligently adverb
• semi-intelligent adjective
• semi-intelligently adverb
• superintelligent adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of intelligent¹

First recorded in 1500–10; from 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”; lection ) + -ent- -ent

Synonym Study

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. See sharp.

Example Sentences

"This year's theme... invites participants to design intelligent machines for a smarter future. Robotics is a growth area for Singapore," Grace Fu, Singapore's minister for sustainability and the environment, said.

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Somewhere in between is where intelligent viewers want to spend most of their time, searching for the experience they would have gotten, years ago, watching a solidly constructed, thought-provoking movie at their local multiplex.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Investors are less keen on spending heavily now in the hope that in the distant future we get properly intelligent machines able to outperform humans.

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Mr. Eyman touches on a great sadness here, that of a lifelong insecurity that made a fiercely intelligent woman hide within a statue of her own making.

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Foxconn and Intrinsic, a subsidiary of Google's parent Alphabet, also announced Friday a deal to develop and deploy "intelligent robotics solutions across Foxconn facilities in the US".

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• astute 
• brainy 
• bright 
• brilliant 
• creative 
• imaginative 
• inventive 
• knowledgeable 
• original 
• perceptive 
• rational 
• resourceful 
• smart 
• well-informed 
• wise