noetic

American  

[noh-et-ik] / noʊˈɛt ɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the mind.

2. originating in or apprehended by the reason.

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noetic British  

/ nəʊˈɛtɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the mind, esp to its rational and intellectual faculties

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Etymology

Origin of noetic

First recorded in 1645–55; from Greek noētikós “intelligent, intellectual” equivalent to nóē(sis) noesis + -tikos -tic

Explanation

Something that is noetic has to do with thinking and reason. If you praise your friend's noetic abilities, you think she's very smart. Use the adjective noetic to describe intellectual thought, like the triumph of the noetic part of your brain over your instincts. It rhymes with poetic, but unlike the emotional content that is usually associated with poetry, things that are noetic focus on reason. The word traces back to the Greek word for mind or thought, noos.

Example Sentences

That, of course, is more or less what Ian Holloway has been saying this week, possibly in between semi-coherent outbursts concerning the overall state of football, poultry and advanced noetic theory.

From The Guardian • Jan. 27, 2011

These hours have for us a noetic value—"some veil did fall"—revealing visions remembered even unto the hour of death.

From Four-Dimensional Vistas by Bragdon, Claude Fayette

Empiricism on the other hand is satisfied with the type of noetic unity that is humanly familiar.

From Pragmatism by James, William

It is a sort of mental equivalent for them, their epistemological function, their value in noetic terms.

From Meaning of Truth by James, William

The noetic faculty 393 is simply a regulative faculty; it furnishes the laws under which we compare and judge, but it does not supply any original elements of knowledge.

From Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles by Cocker, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin)