intelligence

plural intelligences

1. uncountableThe capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn; the ability to process sentient experience to generate true beliefs with a justified degree of confidence.

   1936 Feb., F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up", Esquire: ...the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

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   Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies with self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness of mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.

   1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC

   Synonyms: brightness, intellect, smartness, wit · Antonyms: unintelligence

   1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesAn individual's expected relative performance in a cognitive test.

      intelligence quotient

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      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.

      2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34

      Synonyms: brightness, intellect, smartness, wit · Antonyms: unintelligence

   2. uncountableThe quality of making use or having made use of such capacities: depth of understanding, mental quickness.

      From a religious point of view, a bodhisattva with sharp faculties and great intelligence can cause a tremendous upheaval if he or she misuses that power under the influence of negative emotions, like attachment and hatred.

      2018, Dalai Lama, translated by Dhondup Tsering, Introduction to Buddhism, →ISBN, page 8

      Synonyms: brightness, intellect, smartness, wit · Antonyms: unintelligence

2. countableAn entity that has such capacities.

   The great Intelligences fair That range above our mortal state, In circle round the blessed gate, Received and gave him welcome there.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LXXXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 118

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   The living intelligence, the Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of heaven, and the thing was now but a mere intricate device of metal whirling to destruction.

   1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: Heinemann, page 102

   But there are latent powers within man alone that are not yet fully understood and[…] we cannot definitely state what is, and what is not, due to the interference or influence of discarnate intelligences.

   1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: John Long Ltd, page 275

   He passes beyond the projections and thought forms of his own creation to the wholly other and independent world of the angelic intelligences.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 228

   Synonyms: sentient, sapient, sophont

3. uncountableInformation, often secret, about an enemy or about hostile activities.

   Their lack of good intelligence also meant that they vastly overestimated the size of their foes for far too long, hails of armor-piercing shells doing comparatively little damage compared to the high explosive that they should have been using.

   2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 40:01 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022

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   After the subjugation of Spain, while Cæsar was meditating an expedition against the Dacians and Parthians, he was sent before him to Apollonia, where he applied himself to his studies; until receiving intelligence that his uncle was murdered, and that he was appointed his heir, he hesitated for some time whether he should call to his aid the legions stationed in the neighbourhood; […] .

   1909, C. Suetonius Tranquillus, translated by Alexander Thomson, edited by T. Forester, The Lives of the Twelve Caesers, London: George Bell & Sons, page 75

   1. countableA political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
4. countabledateduncountableAcquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.

   He liv’d rather in a fair Intelligence than any Friendſhip with the Favourites;[…]

   1702, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, book I, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, page 48

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   Yet Josephus tells us of Phiala, a ſpring[…] into which Philip the Tetrarch caſt chaffe to try the experiment, and it was rendred up again into the ſtreame of Iordan. Whence he concluded, that this river entertained an underground intelligence with that fountain.

   1650, Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof, London, page 106