The Meaning of Intuitive: What It Is and How To Use It

What does is the meaning of intuitive, and how can it be used to describe something that comes from instinct? This article is here to explain.

Your writing, at its best

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant

The word intuitive: what does it mean? What is implied if someone calls something intuitive? This article will explain the definition of the word intuitive, how the word intuitive can be used in a sentence, translations of intuitive, synonyms, and antonyms. 

Keep reading to learn all about the word intuitive and how to use it!

What Does the Word Intuitive Mean?

According to Collins English Dictionary, the adjective intuitive means instinctive or coming from a gut feeling. If you have an intuitive feeling about something, this means you somehow know it in your mind or feel it in your heart, even if you have no logical reason to believe it.

The word intuitive can also be used as a noun to describe someone who has a career as a person who practiced intuitive knowledge. This can also be called an intuit.

Many things can be intuitive, including an intuitive person, an intuitive mind, an intuitive sense, an intuitive nature, intuitive responses, and more. The pronunciation of intuitive is ɪnˈtjuːɪtɪv and intuitive is four syllables: in-tu-it-ive.

How Can Intuitive Be Used in a Sentence?

The word intuitive can be used as an adjective in many different ways. In order to remember the definition of the word intuitive, you can try making a flashcard to study its definition, making a quiz containing different facts about the word intuitive, or you can try using intuitive in a sentence to obtain a piece of practical knowledge about it. 

Study the below example sentences containing intuitive to get a sense of how to use the word intuitive in a sentence:

The lessons we took in December and January were fairly intuitive. While we did not come to the seminar knowing anything about artificial intelligence or unconscious cognition, we were able to comprehend the information about the topics through deduction.

Her intuitive feelings of the unconscious mind were a sixth sense; she always knew when things were going to happen before they did, like psychics.

He had an intuitive awareness of his patients’ health. His instinct and impulse to check in on them were always correct. His gut feeling and inner voice were often more correct than his conscious reasoning.

The intuitive interface on the web browser made it easy to navigate the pages through the reasoning process and unconscious pattern recognition. 

Her intuitive judgment and high level of logic made it easy for her to learn things in many different fields and made every topic a new possibility for a career. 

What Are Translations of Intuitive?

The word intuitive is not only used in English but also in languages worldwide. It is very important to discuss topics like intuition with people who are from a different culture than your own, even when they do not speak English.

By studying this list of translations of intuitive, you can communicate with people around the world about the concept of intuition.

  • Japanese: 直感的な
  • Spanish: intuitivo
  • Greek: ενστικτώδης
  • Italian: intuitivo
  • Finnish: intuitiivinen
  • French: intuitif
  • Romanian: intuitiv
  • Portuguese (Portugal): intuitivo
  • Hungarian: intuitív
  • German: intuitiv
  • Welsh: reddfol
  • Bengali: স্বজ্ঞাত
  • Kannada: ಅರ್ಥಗರ್ಭಿತ
  • Norwegian: intuitiv
  • Malayalam: അവബോധജനമായ
  • Bulgarian: интуитивен
  • Portuguese (Brazil): intuitivo
  • Estonian: intuitiivne
  • Lithuanian: intuityvus
  • Urdu: بدیہی
  • Slovak: intuitívny
  • Catalan: intuitiu
  • Vietnamese: trực giác
  • Marathi: अंतर्ज्ञानी
  • Arabic: حدسي
  • Serbian: интуитиван
  • Gujarati: સાહજિક
  • Hindi: सहज ज्ञान युक्त
  • Swedish: intuitiv
  • Danish: intuitiv
  • Ukrainian: інтуїтивно зрозумілий
  • Korean: 직관적 인 것
  • Chinese (PRC): 直觉的
  • Amharic: አስተዋይ
  • Indonesian: intuitif
  • Hebrew: אינטואיטיבי
  • Tamil: உள்ளுணர்வு
  • Russian: интуитивно понятный
  • Turkish: sezgisel
  • Croatian: intuitivan
  • Dutch: intuïtief
  • Icelandic: innsæi
  • Telugu: ఊహాత్మక
  • Polish: intuicyjny
  • Malay: intuitif
  • Filipino: intuitive
  • Latvian: intuitīvs
  • Czech: intuitivní
  • Basque: intuiziozko
  • Thai: ใช้งานง่าย
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 直覺的

What Are Synonyms of the Word Intuitive?

The word intuitive, like many words, can have different connotations in different situations. Intuitive is not always a perfect word for every situation. 

If you’re searching for a word that is similar to intuitive but does not have exactly the same meaning, study these synonyms of intuitive from Power Thesaurus:

  • accustomed
  • acute
  • astute
  • automatic
  • bright
  • canny
  • clairvoyant
  • clever
  • congenital
  • discerning
  • emotional
  • feeling
  • gut
  • habitual
  • impulsive
  • inborn
  • incisive
  • ingrained
  • inherent
  • innate
  • inner sensing
  • insightful
  • instinctive
  • instinctual
  • intelligent
  • intrinsic
  • intuitional
  • involuntary
  • knee-jerk
  • mechanical
  • native
  • natural
  • nonrational
  • perceptive
  • perspicacious
  • prescient
  • quick-witted
  • reflex
  • rooted
  • second-nature
  • second-sighted
  • sensitive
  • sharp
  • shrewd
  • smart
  • spontaneous
  • subconscious
  • unconscious knowledge
  • unlearned
  • unpremeditated
  • visceral
  • wise

What Are Antonyms of the Word Intuitive?

Power Thesaurus also lists many antonyms of intuitive, which have the opposite meaning of intuitive. These words are used to refer to things that are not instinctual or that refer to things that come from an outside source:

  • accidental
  • accomplish
  • acquire
  • acquired
  • added
  • additional
  • adopted
  • adoptive
  • adscititious
  • adventitious
  • affected
  • alfresco
  • alien
  • alienable
  • alternate
  • ancillary
  • apparent
  • auxiliary
  • brink
  • cagey
  • casual
  • co-operative
  • coast
  • coincidental
  • colonist
  • community
  • complex
  • comprehend
  • confounding
  • disorganic
  • enjoy
  • evident
  • explicit
  • exterior
  • external
  • extraneous
  • extrinsic
  • foreign
  • incidental
  • learned
  • machine-made
  • shallow
  • superficial
  • superfluous

Conclusion

Overall, the word intuitive is an adjective that is used to refer to something instinctual or inherent, as opposed to something that comes from an outside source or outside knowledge. Someone can also have intuitive gifts, which refer to psychic powers of knowing, feeling, seeing, and hearing. Do you have any intuitive gifts that you use on a regular basis?

Sources:

  1. Intuitive synonyms – 872 Words and Phrases for Intuitive | Power Thesaurus 
  2. Intuitive antonyms – 146 Opposites of Intuitive | Power Thesaurus 
  3. Intuitive definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary