What does "intellectual" mean?
Intellectual: Endowed with intellect; having the power of understanding; having capacity for the higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or mental capacity; as, an intellectual person. Who would lose, Though full of pain, this intellectual being, Those thoughts that wander through eternity Milton.
Additional senses
- 2.Suitable for exercising the intellect; formed by, and existing for, the intellect alone; perceived by the intellect; as, intellectual employments.
- 3.Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind; as, intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy.
- 4.The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties. Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh, Whose higher intellectual more I shun. Milton. I kept her intellectuals in a state of exercise. De Quincey.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00