INTELLIGENCE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does intelligence mean? 

• INTELLIGENCE (noun)
  The noun INTELLIGENCE has 5 senses:

1. the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience

2. a unit responsible for gathering and interpreting information about an enemy

3. secret information about an enemy (or potential enemy)

4. information about recent and important events

5. the operation of gathering information about an enemy

  Familiarity information: INTELLIGENCE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTELLIGENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("intelligence" is a kind of...):

ability; power (possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done)

Attribute:

intelligent (having the capacity for thought and reason especially to a high degree)

stupid; unintelligent (lacking intelligence)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "intelligence"):

mental quickness; quick-wittedness; quickness (intelligence as revealed by an ability to give correct responses without delay)

marbles; wits (the basic human power of intelligent thought and perception)

astuteness; perspicaciousness; perspicacity; shrewdness (intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings))

brightness; cleverness; smartness (intelligence as manifested in being quick and witty)

acuity; acuteness; keenness; sharpness (a quick and penetrating intelligence)

precociousness; precocity (intelligence achieved far ahead of normal developmental schedules)

brilliance; genius (unusual mental ability)

mental dexterity; nimbleness (intelligence as revealed by quickness and alertness of mind)

verbal intelligence (intelligence in the use and comprehension of language)

nonverbal intelligence (intelligence that is manifested in the performance of tasks requiring little or no use of language)

intellect; mind (knowledge and intellectual ability)

breadth; comprehensiveness; largeness (the capacity to understand a broad range of topics)

brain; brainpower; learning ability; mental capacity; mentality; wit (mental ability)

Antonym:

stupidity (a poor ability to understand or to profit from experience)

Derivation:

intelligent (having the capacity for thought and reason especially to a high degree)

intelligent (endowed with the capacity to reason)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A unit responsible for gathering and interpreting information about an enemy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

intelligence; intelligence agency; intelligence service

Hypernyms ("intelligence" is a kind of...):

administrative body; administrative unit (a unit with administrative responsibilities)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "intelligence"):

military intelligence; military intelligence agency (an agency of the armed forces that obtains and analyzes and uses information of strategic or tactical military value)

United States intelligence agency (an intelligence service in the United States)

IC; Intelligence Community; National Intelligence Community; United States Intelligence Community (a group of government agencies and organizations that carry out intelligence activities for the United States government; headed by the Director of Central Intelligence)

international intelligence agency (an intelligence agency outside the United States)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Secret information about an enemy (or potential enemy)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

intelligence; intelligence information

Context example:

we sent out planes to gather intelligence on their radar coverage

Hypernyms ("intelligence" is a kind of...):

info; information (a message received and understood)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "intelligence"):

military intelligence (information about the armed forces of another country that is useful in planning and conducting military policy or military operations)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Information about recent and important events

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

intelligence; news; tidings; word

Context example:

they awaited news of the outcome

Hypernyms ("intelligence" is a kind of...):

info; information (a message received and understood)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "intelligence"):

good word (good news)

latest (the most recent news or development)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The operation of gathering information about an enemy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

intelligence; intelligence activity; intelligence operation

Hypernyms ("intelligence" is a kind of...):

information gathering (the act of collecting information)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "intelligence"):

current intelligence (intelligence of all types and forms of immediate interest; usually disseminated without delays for evaluation or interpretation)

combat intelligence; tactical intelligence (intelligence that is required for the planning and conduct of tactical operations)

strategic intelligence (intelligence that is required for forming policy and military plans at national and international levels)

SIGINT; signals intelligence (intelligence information gathered from communications intelligence or electronics intelligence or telemetry intelligence)

clandestine operation (an intelligence operation so planned and executed as to insure concealment)

overt operation (the collection of intelligence openly without concealment)

reconnaissance; reconnaissance mission (the act of reconnoitring (especially to gain information about an enemy or potential enemy))

counterintelligence (intelligence activities concerned with identifying and counteracting the threat to security posed by hostile intelligence organizations or by individuals engaged in espionage or sabotage or subversion or terrorism)

spying; undercover work (the act of keeping a secret watch for intelligence purposes)

 Context examples 

He had come into the world with a twisted body and a brute intelligence.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Both were fair complexioned and slenderly made; both possessed faces full of distinction and intelligence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was no other than Tommy Traddles who gave me this piece of intelligence.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Upon such intelligence the general had proceeded; for never had it occurred to him to doubt its authority.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Be sure to give me intelligence of the letter as soon as possible.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

With a purer spirit did Fanny rejoice in the intelligence.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If you continue to show zeal and intelligence you will find the company a good master.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A broad category of disorders characterized by an impairment to the intelligence an individual possesses.

(Intellectual Disability, NCI Thesaurus)

Although it affects the brain, people with AT usually have normal or above normal intelligence.

(Ataxia Telangiectasia, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

This work reveals sleep as a possible mediating pathway, the potential missing link between fish and intelligence.

(Weekly Fish Consumption Linked to Better Sleep, Higher IQ, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)