intellectual

adj. of or pertaining to the mind or intellect, mental, rational; highly intelligent, brilliant; devoted to mental or intellectual pursuits, academic

n. highly intelligent person; person engaged in intellectual pursuits, academic

An intellectual is one who tries to use his or her intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate, or ask and answer questions about a wide variety of different ideas.There are, broadly, three modern definitions at work in discussions about intellectuals. First, “intellectuals” as those deeply involved in ideas, books, and the life of the mind. Second, “intellectuals” as a recognizable occupational class consisting of lecturers, professors, lawyers, doctors, scientists, engineers, etc. Third, “cultural intellectuals” are those of notable expertise in culture and the arts, expertise which allows them some cultural authority, which they then use to speak in public on other matters.
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Noun
1. a person who uses the mind creatively
(synonym) intellect
(hypernym) person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, human, soul
(hyponym) anomalist
Adjective
1. of or relating to the intellect; "his intellectual career"
(pertainym) mind, intellect
2. of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind; "intellectual problems"; "the triumph of the rational over the animal side of man"
(synonym) rational, noetic
(similar) mental
3. appealing to or using the intellect; "satire is an intellectual weapon"; "intellectual workers engaged in creative literary or artistic or scientific labor"; "has tremendous intellectual sympathy for oppressed people"; "coldly intellectual"; "sort of the intellectual type"; "intellectual literature"
(antonym) nonintellectual
(similar) highbrow, highbrowed
(see-also) educated
(attribute) mind, intellect
4. involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct; "a cerebral approach to the problem"; "cerebral drama"
(synonym) cerebral

(n.)
The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.
  

(a.)
Suitable for exercising the intellect; formed by, and existing for, the intellect alone; perceived by the intellect; as, intellectual employments.
  

(a.)
Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind; as, intellectual philosophy, sometimes called "mental" philosophy.
  

(a.)
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.
  

(a.)
Belonging to, or performed by, the intellect; mental; as, intellectual powers, activities, etc.
  

Synonyms and related words:
Brahmin, academic, academician, affective, authority, bookish, brain, brainy, bright, cerebral, characteristic, conceptive, conceptual, constitutional, discursive, dispositional, doctor, egghead, elder, elder statesman, elitist, emotional, endopsychic, experimental scientist, expert, genius, great soul, guru, highbrow, highbrowed, ideational, illuminate, illuminati, innate, intellect, intellectualistic, intelligence, intelligent, internal, knowing, literati, lover of wisdom, mahatma, man of intellect, man of science, man of wisdom, mandarin, master, mastermind, mental, mentor, noetic, noological, not so dumb, oracle, philosopher, phrenic, polymath, practical scientist, professor, psychic, psychical, psychologic, psychological, pundit, rabbi, rational, reasonable, reasoning, rishi, sage, sane, sapient, savant, scholar, scholarly, scientist, seer, sensible, sophic, spiritual, starets, strong-minded, subjective, technologist, temperamental, thinker, thinking, thought-provoking, thoughtful, understanding, wise man, wise old man