intuition

American  

[in-too-ish-uhn, -tyoo-] / ˌɪn tuˈɪʃ ən, -tyu- /

noun

1. direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension.

2. a fact, truth, etc., perceived in this way.

3. a keen and quick insight.

4. the quality or ability of having such direct perception or quick insight.

5. Philosophy.

   1. an immediate cognition of an object not inferred or determined by a previous cognition of the same object.

   2. any object or truth so discerned.

   3. pure, untaught, noninferential knowledge.

6. Linguistics. the ability of the native speaker to make linguistic judgments, as of the grammaticality, ambiguity, equivalence, or nonequivalence of sentences, deriving from the speaker's native-language competence.

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intuition British  

/ ˌɪntjʊˈɪʃən /

noun

1. knowledge or belief obtained neither by reason nor by perception

2. instinctive knowledge or belief

3. a hunch or unjustified belief

4. philosophy immediate knowledge of a proposition or object such as Kant's account of our knowledge of sensible objects

5. the supposed faculty or process by which we obtain any of these

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Other Word Forms

• intuitional adjective
• intuitionally adverb
• intuitionless adjective

Etymology

Origin of intuition

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Late Latin intuitiōn-, stem of intuitiō “contemplation,” equivalent to Latin intuit(us), past participle of intuērī “to gaze at, contemplate” + -iō -ion; in- ², tuition

Example Sentences

We pay attention to what intuition tells us — we’ll continue to listen to that.

From Los Angeles Times

“That took everything in my soul to do, because my natural intuition is to go bigger. Like, ‘10,000 people in season 2!’”

From The Wall Street Journal

We trust our intuitions when we should rely on rational calculation.

From The Wall Street Journal

As Heaney put it, Tolkien convincingly showed how the poet behind “Beowulf” arrived “at a unity of effect and a balanced order” by a “combination of creative intuition and conscious structuring.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The opposing argument begins with a simple intuition: In a society defined by self-government, as America is, there is no such thing as citizenship without consent.

From Salon

Related Words

• hunch
• instinct