The term "intellectual" can denote three types of people. An intellectual is a person who uses thought and reason, intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning, in either a professional or a personal capacity and is:

1. a person involved in, and with, abstract, erudite ideas and theories;
2. a person whose profession (e.g. philosophy, literary criticism, sociology, law, political analysis, theoretical science, etc.) solely involves the production and dissemination of ideas;^[2] or
3. a person of notable cultural and artistic expertise whose knowledge grants him or her intellectual authority in public discourse.

An intellectual is a person who primarily uses intelligence in either a professional or an individual capacity. As a substantive or adjective, it refers to the work product of such persons, to the so-called "life of the mind" generally, or to an aspect of something where learning, erudition, and informed and critical thinking are the focus.^{[citation needed]}

Jacques Barzun, a French-American intellectual.

The intellectual is a specific variety of the intelligent, which unlike the general property, is strictly associated with reason and thinking. Many everyday roles require the application of intelligence to skills that may have a psychomotor component, for example, in the fields of medicine, sport or the arts, but these do not necessarily involve the practitioner in the "world of ideas". The distinctive quality of the intellectual person is that the mental skills, which he or she demonstrates, are not simply intelligent, but even more, they focus on thinking about the abstract, philosophical and esoteric aspects of human inquiry and the value of their thinking.^{[citation needed]}

Traditionally, the scholarly and the intellectual classes were closely identified; however, while intellectuals need not necessarily be actively involved in scholarship, they often have an academicbackground and will typically have an association with a profession.

Intellectuals include not only philosophers, interested in epistemology, but also others in the arts and sciences, plus the humanities, with no boundaries as to fields of study.

The term intellectual property is an umbrella term relating to various laws which do not apply solely to intellectual work.

[The] ... real or 'true' intellectual is, therefore, always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the margins of society.

 In journalism, ‘intellectual’ generally denotes academics of the humanities — especially philosophy — who speak about important social and political matters; by definition, the public intellectuals who communicate the theoretic base for resolving public problems; generally, academics remain in their areas of expertise, whereas intellectuals apply academic knowledge and abstraction to public problems.

academic

akəˈdɛmɪk/

adjective

1. 1.

   relating to education and scholarship.

   "academic achievement"

   synonyms:

   educational, scholastic, instructional, pedagogical; More
2. 2.

   not of practical relevance; of only theoretical interest.

   "the debate has been largely academic"

   synonyms:

   theoretical, conceptual, notional, philosophical, unpragmatic,hypothetical, speculative, conjectural, conjectured, suppositional,putative; More

noun

1. 1.

   a teacher or scholar in a university or other institute of higher education.

   "the EU offers grants to academics for research on approved projects"

   synonyms:

   scholar, lecturer, don, teacher, educator, instructor, trainer, tutor,professor, fellow, man/woman of letters, highbrow, thinker,bluestocking; More