intelligentsia

noun

in·​tel·​li·​gent·​sia in-ˌte-lə-ˈjen(t)-sē-ə How to pronounce intelligentsia (audio) -ˈgen(t)- How to pronounce intelligentsia (audio)
: intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite

Examples of intelligentsia in a Sentence

a presidential candidate who was the darling of the intelligentsia—and very few others
Recent Examples on the Web
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Her classmates there included Vladimir Nabokov’s sister Olga, along with other teachers and students who would go on to shape the early Soviet arts scene before fleeing to exile (the lucky ones), getting sent to the gulag or being shot during various purges of the Russian intelligentsia. Marco Roth, Washington Post, 30 July 2024 An Emmy winner for acting, directing, and writing, the series ought to be on the lips of the entire clickbait intelligentsia, filling digital column inches from the Ringer to Slate. Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 12 July 2024 During the 1960s, information spread with impressive speed: something akin to social networks formed among the intelligentsia, a process that had already begun under Nikita Khrushchev but reached its full extent in the early Brezhnev years. Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 17 May 2024 The musical intelligentsia had turned out en masse. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024 See all Example Sentences for intelligentsia 

Word History

Etymology

Russian intelligentsiya, from Latin intelligentia intelligence

First Known Use

1905, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of intelligentsia was in 1905

Dictionary Entries Near intelligentsia

Cite this Entry

“Intelligentsia.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intelligentsia. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

intelligentsia

noun
in·​tel·​li·​gen·​tsia
in-ˌtel-ə-ˈjen(t)-sē-ə,
-ˈgen(t)-
: intellectuals as a group : educated people

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