Definition of "intellectual" []

• Of or relating to the intellect. (adjective)
• Rational rather than emotional. (adjective)
• Appealing to or engaging the intellect: an intellectual book; an intellectual problem. (adjective)
• Having or showing intellect, especially to a high degree. See Synonyms at intelligent. (adjective)
• Given to activities or pursuits that require exercise of the intellect. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For those of you who may not be familiar with Objectivism, I would like to present to you the outlines of the Ojectivist point of view to help you under - stand why such an intellectual foundation is necessary for an * intellectual* defense of any ideas whether they are scientific, moral or political."
• "With regard to the intellectual and ethical condition of the soul and its destiny, the speculative thinkers of other nations, arguing from reason alone and having no divine revelation to guide or confirm their speculations, are agreed that the only way in which the soul, which belongs to a higher world, can be freed from this world of body and change is through _intellectual excellence_ and _right conduct_."
• "It is true that a good deal is found in the dream content which might be understood as the result of another and more intellectual performance; but analysis shows conclusively every time that these _intellectual operations were already present in the dream thoughts, and have only been taken over by the dream content_."