1
as in cerebral
much given to learning and thinking
as the daughter of college professors, she's used to being around intellectual people
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2
as in internal
of or relating to the mind
intellectual pursuits such as reading and studying
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3
as in educational
of or relating to schooling or learning especially at an advanced level
research that shows that people from very intellectual backgrounds are happiest with spouses having comparable educations
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as in nerd
a person with strong intellectual interests
discovered that in politics a reputation for being an intellectual was regarded as a liability
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of intellectual
Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Van Buren has no interest in László's commanding air of intellectual superiority and authority — until an article in Look magazine flatters him as a millionaire with a becoming taste for modernity.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 3 Jan. 2025
Boutayna Chokrane, WIRED, 16 Dec. 2024
Sure, they’re meant to be funny, but Tomlin inhabits each of them — from Trudy the homeless woman to Brandy and Tina, hookers tired of being interviewed by intellectuals — with affection and empathy alike.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for intellectual 
Adjective
How did this figure of speech become a pejorative for elitist artistic and/or intellectual seclusion—something to be gotten out of or pulled down for the good of the cause, the community, or, more recently, the all-encompassing market?
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Van Buren has no interest in László's commanding air of intellectual superiority and authority — until an article in Look magazine flatters him as a millionaire with a becoming taste for modernity.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 3 Jan. 2025
Noun
The ubiquitous New Yorker tote became the uniform of the chic intellectual, and Trader Joe’s reusable bags (though around since the late ’70s) are a badge of brand loyalty.
—Boutayna Chokrane, WIRED, 16 Dec. 2024
Sure, they’re meant to be funny, but Tomlin inhabits each of them — from Trudy the homeless woman to Brandy and Tina, hookers tired of being interviewed by intellectuals — with affection and empathy alike.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for intellectual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intellectual
Adjective
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Unconcerned with trends, the band never broke up or stopped exploring cerebral combinations of metal, classical and art rock.Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 9 Jan. 2025
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Motherland, by Julia Ioffe (June 17) Later in 2025 Nowhere Burning, Catriona Ward (October 7) $27 $29 now 7% off After the brilliant, cerebral chills of The House on Needless Street and Looking Glass Sound, Catriona Ward’s Nowhere Burning promises a more candidly monstrous thriller.Vulture Editors, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Secrecy is also a departure from existing North Dakota law for internal investigations by public entities.Jacob Orledge, ProPublica, 6 Jan. 2025
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The strong gravitational magnification enabled astronomers to detect faint background sources and study their internal structures, which can lead to identifying individual stars in distant galaxies, according to the paper.Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Photo : Watch Print The Dial: The Face of the Wristwatch in the 20th Century True watch nerds will appreciate the depth of this intricate reference book exploring the focal point of every watch: the dial.Cait Bazemore, Robb Report, 8 Jan. 2025
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Econ nerds met, networked, tried to get jobs, shared ideas, and presented hundreds of academic papers.Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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In the contemporary world, the Divine Nine boasts diverse growth and development programs, serving their respective communities through camaraderie, academic excellence, and educational, cultural, and economic activities.Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2025
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Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, an academic power couple who run a lab at Cornell University, had been searching for superconductivity in TMDs since Jarillo-Herrero’s blockbuster twisted-graphene discovery in 2018.Charlie Wood, WIRED, 12 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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End up between the inner and outer tubs, especially if the washer is overloaded—once there, those socks are gone for good.Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
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Entanglement gets messy To probe the inner structure of protons, scientists looked at high-energy particle collisions that have occurred in facilities like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).Robert Lea, Space.com, 7 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Richie Grainge herself has evolved her stylistic approach from an ostentatious Los Angeleno verve into a look that’s more low-key highbrow.Nick Remsen, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024
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No word better sums up our quixotic hopes for the visual, uniting the lowbrow (video-game headsets, van Gogh warehouses), the highbrow (Yayoi Kusama’s infinity rooms, James Turrell’s light installations), and the middlebrow (Alfonso Cuarón’s Steadicam jaunts, James Cameron’s 3-D extravaganzas).Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
Adjective
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There is a lot of scholarly research regarding the ins and outs of wintertime blues.Lance Eliot, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
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But plenty of scholarly studies have confirmed formaldehyde’s presence in our everyday lives and mirror our findings.Topher Sanders, ProPublica, 9 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Williamson said earlier this week that his hamstring is completely healed, but his mental state remains a work in progress.oregonlive, oregonlive, 13 Apr. 2023
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Sign up That Torrance pushed Vial and Eduardo to such mental anguish does not surprise immigrant-justice advocates.María Inés Taracena, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
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Cite this Entry
“Intellectual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intellectual. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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