intelligence

noun

1. (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.

   “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.”

   “...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.”

   “Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.”

2. (uncountable)The quality of making use or having made use of such capacities: depth of understanding, mental quickness.

   “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.”

3. (countable)An entity that has such capacities.

   “The great Intelligences fair That range above our mortal state, In circle round the blessed gate, Received and gave him welcome there.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “He passes beyond the projections and thought forms of his own creation to the wholly other and independent world of the angelic intelligences.”

4. (uncountable)Information, often secret, about an enemy or about hostile activities.

   “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.”

5. (countable)A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
6. (countable, dated, uncountable)Acquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.

   “Yet Josephus tells us of Phiala, a ſpring[…] into which Philip the Tetrarch caſt chaffe to try the experiment, and it was rendred up again into the ſtreame of Iordan. Whence he concluded, that this river entertained an underground intelligence with that fountain.”

   “He liv’d rather in a fair Intelligence than any Friendſhip with the Favourites;[…]”