Intelligent

Able to learn, reason, and apply understanding effectively.

Reach for it when praising mental ability without making it the person's entire identity

The intelligent apprentice checked the source before accepting the confident answer.

• everyday

  clever

  quickness or ingenuity is the notable strength

  not when Clever can imply trickiness and is narrower than intelligent understanding.

• everyday

  smart

  friendly, broad praise for mental ability fits

  not when Smart can also mean stylish or painful and may sound casual.

• warm

  bright

  quick learning deserves encouraging language

  not when Calling an adult expert bright can sound patronizing.

• warm

  wise

  good judgment and humane values matter more than raw ability

  not when Wisdom is earned through judgment, not intelligence alone.

• formal

  astute

  practical judgment reads people or situations accurately

  not when Astute may sound calculating and does not cover learning ability broadly.

Designed or chosen with sound understanding of the situation.

Reach for it when praising a system, response, or decision that adapts sensibly

The building uses intelligent shading to reduce heat without darkening the rooms.

• professional

  adaptive

  a system changes appropriately when conditions change

  not when An adaptive response can still rest on an unwise choice.

• professional

  well-designed

  the artifact's thoughtful construction is what deserves credit

  not when Well-designed credits human work and avoids implying machine intelligence.

• formal

  responsive

  the system reacts usefully to inputs or needs

  not when Responsive can follow simple rules and need not be intelligent.

• unintelligent
• foolish
• senseless

• intelligent person

  An intelligent person can still benefit from a second perspective.

• intelligent choice

  Reusing the stone was an intelligent choice for both cost and continuity.

• intelligent system

  The intelligent system lowers blinds only on the sunlit side.

• Intelligently adv.

• Merriam-Webster, adjective sense 1a: having or indicating a high or satisfactory degree of intelligence ↗opens in a new tab for meaning 1 · retrieved 2026-07-26
• Merriam-Webster, adjective sense 2: guided or controlled by a computer ↗opens in a new tab for meaning 2 · retrieved 2026-07-26

The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.