intuitive
Americanadjective
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perceiving directly by intuition without rational thought, as a person or the mind.
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perceived by, resulting from, or involving intuition.
intuitive knowledge.
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having or possessing intuition.
an intuitive person.
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capable of being perceived or known by intuition.
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easy to understand or operate without explicit instruction.
an intuitive design;
an intuitive interface.
adjective
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resulting from intuition
an intuitive awareness
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of, characterized by, or involving intuition
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of intuitive
From the Medieval Latin word intuitīvus, dating back to 1585–95. See intuition, -ive
Explanation
If you're intuitive, you can probably guess what this word means just by looking at it. No? Maybe you're not so intuitive, after all. Intuitive means having the ability to understand or know something without any direct evidence or reasoning process. Psychics are intuitive. So are mothers when they know you're lying. A process can be said to be intuitive as well, if it can be easily learned without any prior training — like an easy-to-learn software program. In human beings, intuitiveness is often thought of as something more mystical, as in the ability psychics have to predict the future.
Vocabulary lists containing intuitive
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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.
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From Salon • Jun. 2, 2026
"For me, the future of mobility will not be won by the most complex cars, but by the simplest and the most intuitive ones."
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
“The point is to ensure that the flow from the parking, from the transit connection and walking up made sense and was intuitive and easy to follow.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
“The first six months were tough because I had to learn things that weren’t intuitive to me,” Cook says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
What one is after when farfetching might be described as the intuitive perception of a moral entirety; and thus it tends to find expression not in rational symbols, but in metaphor.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
