intuition

[in-too-ish-uhn, -tyoo-]

noun

1. direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension.

2. a fact, truth, etc., perceived in this way.

3. a keen and quick insight.

4. the quality or ability of having such direct perception or quick insight.

5. Philosophy.

   1. an immediate cognition of an object not inferred or determined by a previous cognition of the same object.

   2. any object or truth so discerned.

   3. pure, untaught, noninferential knowledge.

6. Linguistics.,  the ability of the native speaker to make linguistic judgments, as of the grammaticality, ambiguity, equivalence, or nonequivalence of sentences, deriving from the speaker's native-language competence.

intuition

/ ˌɪntjʊˈɪʃən /

noun

1. knowledge or belief obtained neither by reason nor by perception

2. instinctive knowledge or belief

3. a hunch or unjustified belief

4. philosophy immediate knowledge of a proposition or object such as Kant's account of our knowledge of sensible objects

5. the supposed faculty or process by which we obtain any of these

Other Word Forms

• intuitionless adjective
• intuitional adjective
• intuitionally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of intuition¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Late Latin intuitiōn-, stem of intuitiō “contemplation,” equivalent to Latin intuit(us), past participle of intuērī “to gaze at, contemplate” + -iō -ion; in- ², tuition

Word History and Origins

Origin of intuition¹

C15: from Late Latin intuitiō a contemplation, from Latin intuērī to gaze upon, from tuērī to look at

Example Sentences

His aim is to lock up enough data-center capacity to win the race to develop superintelligence, or AI systems that rival humans for reasoning and intuition.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

All of this speaks well of Betts’ intuition and intelligence, but the postseason is not the time for “trust the process” blather.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"If someone turns to an LLM every time they're unsure how to respond or feel emotionally exposed, they might start outsourcing their intuition, emotional language, and sense of relational self," says Dr Suglani.

Read more on BBC

I should have listened a little bit more to my intuition.

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Primacy belongs to the brain, which dedicates around half of its resources to processing visual information; hence, vision’s intimate relationship to emotion and intuition.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• hunch 
• instinct