nonintellectual

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adjective

non·​in·​tel·​lec·​tu·​al ˌnän-ˌin-tə-ˈlek-chə-wəl 

-chəl,

-shwəl,

-chü(-ə)l

: not intellectual

a nonintellectual person

… his recreations tend to be nonintellectual: watching movies, television, or baseball …

—Current Biography

nonintellectual

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noun

: a person who is not intellectual

Intellectuals think of themselves as being smart and interesting people, but nonintellectuals think of them as arrogant, boring, impractical, or coldly analytical.

—Steven Reiss

Examples of nonintellectual in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

In Cherkashin, Nash Sovremennik presented a model genealogy as well as a model Pushkin scholar: a righteous, passionate, nonintellectual man of the people. —Kathleen Parthé, The New York Review of Books, 18 Aug. 2022

Such thumbnail indictments of the nonintellectual masses seemed to stem from Hofstadter’s own mounting sense of political and cultural homelessness in the postwar world. —Chris Lehmann, The New Republic, 16 Apr. 2020

George, meanwhile, grew up in a cheerfully nonintellectual and inclusive household that celebrated Christmas and just about anything involving their son, even Lizzie. —Ellen Emry Heltzel, The Seattle Times, 3 Sep. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1649, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1908, in the meaning defined above