# intelligence
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English intelligence, from Old French intelligence, from Latin intelligentia, which is from inter- (“between”) + legere (“choose, pick out, read”), or Proto-Italic *legō (“to care”). Doublet of intelligentsia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪnˈtɛl.ɪ.d͡ʒəns/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: in‧tel‧li‧gence

### Noun

intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural intelligences)
* (chiefly uncountable) The 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.
** 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. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC: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.
** 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.
** 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
* (chiefly uncountable) The quality of making use or having made use of such capacities: depth of understanding, mental quickness.
** 2018, Dalai Lama, translated by Dhondup Tsering, Introduction to Buddhism, →ISBN, page 8: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.
* (countable) An entity that has such capacities.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto LXXXV:The great Intelligences fair / That range above our mortal state, / In circle round the blessed gate, / Received and gave him welcome there.
** 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 102: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.
** 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 275: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.
** 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 228:He passes beyond the projections and thought forms of his own creation to the wholly other and independent world of the angelic intelligences.
* (chiefly uncountable) Information, often secret, about an enemy or about hostile activities.
** 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 40:01 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎, archived from the original on 3 November 2022: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.
* (countable) A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
* (dated) Acquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.
** 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:He lived rather in a fair intelligence than any friendship with the favourite

#### Synonyms

* (capacity of mind): wit, intellect, brightness
* (entity): see Thesaurus:sentient
* See also Thesaurus:intelligence

#### Antonyms

* unintelligence

#### Derived terms

* adaptive intelligence
* artificial general intelligence
* artificial intelligence
* business intelligence
* CIA
* communications intelligence
* computational intelligence
* counter intelligence
* counter-intelligence
* counterintelligence
* cyberintelligence
* electronic intelligence
* ELINT
* emotional intelligence
* extelligence
* fluid intelligence
* human intelligence
* humint
* HUMINT
* hyperintelligence
* insult one's intelligence
* intel
* intelligence agency
* intelligence asset
* intelligence community
* intelligenced
* intelligence-gathering
* intelligencelike
* intelligence office
* intelligence officer
* intelligence quotient
* intelligencer
* intelligence service
* intelligencing
* IQ
* machine intelligence
* MI5
* MI6
* misintelligence
* nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people
* nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public
* nonintelligence
* no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public
* sigint
* SIGINT
* signals intelligence
* SIS
* social media intelligence
* SOCMINT
* superintelligence
* swarm intelligence
* synthetic intelligence
* tactical intelligence
* unintelligence

#### Translations
## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin intelligentia (“discernment, intelligence”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɛ̃.tɛ.li.ʒɑ̃s/ ~ /ɛ̃.te.li.ʒɑ̃s/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)
* intelligence; cleverness
    C’est un homme d’une rare intelligence.He is a man of exceptional intelligence.
* comprehension

#### Derived terms

* être d’intelligence
* intelligence artificielle

### Further reading

* “intelligence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Italian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English intelligence. Doublet of intelligenza and intellighenzia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /inˈtɛl.li.d͡ʒens/
* Rhymes: -ɛllidʒens

### Noun

intelligence f (invariable)
* a political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information

### References

* ↑ intelligence in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* intelligens

### Etymology

From Old French intelligence, from Latin intellegentia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /inˈtɛlid͡ʒɛns(ə)/

### Noun

intelligence (uncountable)
* comprehension

#### Descendants

* English: intelligence
* Yola: tellgence, talligence

#### References

* “intelliǧence, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

## Middle French
### Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)
* intelligence
* comprehension
** 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 10:Je souhaiterois avoir plus parfaicte comprehension des choses, mais je ne la veux pas achepter si cher qu’elle couste.I would like to have a more perfect knowledge of everything, but I don't want to buy it for how much it costs

## Old French
### Noun

intelligence oblique singular, f (oblique plural intelligences, nominative singular intelligence, nominative plural intelligences)
* comprehension
* meaning
* ability to comprehend

#### Descendants

* French: intelligence
* → Middle English: intelligence, intelligens
** English: intelligence
** Yola: tellgence, talligence

### References

* Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX$^e$ au XV$^e$ siècle (1881) (intelligence, supplement)