Intelligent means clever, able to understand things and learn quickly: an intelligent student. It says nothing about manners or education. A well-educated person with broad interests is cultured or well-educated, someone with good manners is polite or well-mannered, and a person devoted to ideas and culture is an intellectual.
intelligent: will you get the meaning right?
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an intelligent + person/student/question; intelligent enough + to + verb; highly intelligent; cultured, polite, an intellectual (not intelligent)
- She asked some very intelligent questions at the end of the lecture.
- We need someone intelligent who can learn our software quickly.
- My dog is intelligent enough to open the kitchen door by herself.
What changed
First versionMy grandfather was a typical Soviet intelligent: an engineer who loved poetry and the theatre.
RevisionMy grandfather was a typical Soviet intellectual: an engineer who loved poetry and the theatre.
Intelligent is only an adjective meaning “clever”; it can't be used as a noun for a person. Someone who works with their mind and has broad interests is an intellectual.
Clever also means “intelligent”, and people often use it about solutions and tricks: a clever idea, a clever trick. Intelligent sounds a little more serious and describes the general ability to think: an intelligent question. In American English people usually say smart instead of clever.
Your turn
The boy was very ___: he thanked the driver and gave his seat to an elderly woman.
Show the answer
polite — The boy thanked the driver and gave up his seat, which shows good manners, so the answer is polite. Intelligent means clever, and these actions say nothing about how clever he is.
Describe an intelligent person you studied or worked with. Say how their intelligence showed and give one specific example.
My university friend Igor was very intelligent and could explain any maths problem in simple words; once he even found a mistake in the professor's formula during a lecture.
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