intelligentsia

American

[in-tel-i-jent-see-uh, -gent-] / ɪnˌtɛl ɪˈdʒɛnt si ə, -ˈgɛnt- /

plural noun

intellectuals considered as a group or class, especially as a cultural, social, or political elite.

intelligentsia British

/ ɪnˌtɛlɪˈdʒɛntsɪə /

noun

the educated or intellectual people in a society or community

"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

intelligentsia Cultural

Intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite.

Etymology

Origin of intelligentsia

1905–10; < Russian intelligéntsia < Latin intelligentia intelligence

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.

But he had the support of the intelligentsia at the New York Review of Books and Village Voice, and a theater culture that was willing to accommodate him while he found his footing.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2025

"I met all the intelligentsia of Swansea really."

From BBC • Dec. 14, 2024

Well educated and intelligent, Navalny was nevertheless not part of the intelligentsia, a fact which only helped broaden his appeal.

From Slate • Feb. 16, 2024

On Friday, Christopher Mathias of HuffPost released an exposé of Richard Hanania, a rising star of the right's supposed intelligentsia.

From Salon • Aug. 8, 2023

Meanwhile, at school I was quietly collecting bits of data, trying to sort out my place inside the teenage intelligentsia.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023