intelligentsia

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ɪnˌtɛləˈdʒɛntsiə/ UK /ɪnˌtɛlɪˈdʒɛntsiə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the class of educated people engaged in cultural and political ideas

The cafe was a haunt of the city's restless intelligentsia.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the class of educated... intellectuals literaticognoscenticlerisybrains

Opposites

proletariat masses

Word family

Related forms intelligent intelligence intellect

Etymology

From Russian intelligentsiya, from Latin intelligentia ('understanding'), from intellegere ('to understand'), from inter- + legere ('to choose, read').

intelligentsiya Russian intelligentia Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# intelligentsia

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ɪnˌtɛləˈdʒɛntsiə/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪnˌtɛlɪˈdʒɛntsiə/

## Meanings
1. the class of educated people engaged in cultural and political ideas

## Examples
- The cafe was a haunt of the city's restless intelligentsia.

## Synonyms
- intellectuals
- literati
- cognoscenti
- clerisy
- brains

## Antonyms
- proletariat
- masses

## Related Forms
- intelligent
- intelligence
- intellect

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: intelligentsiya
- Root: intelligentia

## Etymology
From Russian intelligentsiya, from Latin intelligentia ('understanding'), from intellegere ('to understand'), from inter- + legere ('to choose, read').

## AI Etymology
intelligentsia comes from Russian intelligentsiya, from Latin intelligentia ('understanding'), from intellegere ('to understand'), from inter- + legere ('to choose, read'). Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. In present English, the noun sense is "the class of educated people engaged in cultural and political ideas", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as intelligent, intelligence, and intellect. Its semantic neighborhood includes intellectuals, literati, cognoscenti, and clerisy, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Russian intelligentsiya and Latin intelligentia.

## Topics
- People & Society

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