different between intelligence vs knowledge

English

Etymology

From Old French intelligence, from Latin intelligentia. Doublet of intelligentsia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?t?l.?.d???ns/

Noun

intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural intelligences)

1. (chiefly uncountable) Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn.
   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     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.
2. (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.
3. (chiefly uncountable) Information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
4. (countable) A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
5. (dated) Acquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.

Synonyms

• (capacity of mind): wit, intellect, brightness
• (entity): see Thesaurus:sentient
• See also Thesaurus:intelligence

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin intelligentia (“the act of choosing between, intelligence”), from intelleg? (“understand”), from inter (“between”) + leg? (“choose, pick out, read”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.t?.li.???s/, /??.te.li.???s/

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence; cleverness
2. comprehension

Derived terms

• être d'intelligence
• intelligence artificielle

Further reading

• “intelligence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English intelligence.

Noun

intelligence f (invariable)

1. A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information.

Middle French

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence
2. comprehension

Old French

Noun

intelligence f (oblique plural intelligences, nominative singular intelligence, nominative plural intelligences)

1. comprehension
2. meaning
3. ability to comprehend

Descendants

• ? English: intelligence
• French: intelligence

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (intelligence, supplement)

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) knolege, knowlage, knowleche, knowledg, knowlege, knowliche, knowlych, knowlech
• (obsolete, uncommon, Scottish) knaulege, knaulage, knawlage
• (obsolete, uncommon) knoleche, knoleige, knowlache, knolych
• (obsolete, verb) knawlache

Etymology

From Middle English knowleche, knaweleche, cnawlece (“knowledge”), from knowen (“to know, recognise”) + -leche. Related to Middle English knowlechen (“to find out, acknowledge”). For more on the Middle English suffix -leche, compare freelage. Compare also Old English cn?wel??, cn?wel??ing (“acknowledging, acknowledgement”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?l?d?/
• (General American) enPR: n?l?ij, IPA^(key): /?n?l?d?/
• (obsolete) enPR: n?l?ij, IPA^(key): /?no?l?d?/
• Rhymes: -?l?d?
• Hyphenation UK: know?ledge, US: knowl?edge

Noun

knowledge (usually uncountable, plural knowledges)

1. The fact of knowing about something; general understanding or familiarity with a subject, place, situation etc. [from 14th c.]
2. Awareness of a particular fact or situation; a state of having been informed or made aware of something. [from 14th c.]
   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice:

     He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid she had no knowledge of it.

3. Intellectual understanding; the state of appreciating truth or information. [from 14th c.]
4. Familiarity or understanding of a particular skill, branch of learning etc. [from 14th c.]

5. (philosophical) Justified true belief
6. (archaic or law) Sexual intimacy or intercourse (now usually in phrase carnal knowledge). [from 15th c.]
   • 1573, George Gascoigne, "The Adventures of Master F.J.", An Anthology of Elizabethan Prose Fiction:

     Every time that he had knowledge of her he would leave, either in the bed, or in her cushion-cloth, or by her looking-glass, or in some place where she must needs find it, a piece of money […].

7. (obsolete) Information or intelligence about something; notice. [15th-18th c.]
   • 1580, Edward Hayes, "Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland", Voyages and Travels Ancient and Modern, ed. Charles W Eliot, Cosimo 2005, p. 280:

     Item, if any ship be in danger […], every man to bear towards her, answering her with one light for a short time, and so to put it out again; thereby to give knowledge that they have seen her token.

8. The total of what is known; all information and products of learning. [from 16th c.]

9. (countable) Something that can be known; a branch of learning; a piece of information; a science. [from 16th c.]
   • There is a great difference in the delivery of the mathematics, which are the most abstracted of knowledges.

10. (obsolete) Acknowledgement. [14th-16th c.]
11. (obsolete) Notice, awareness. [17th c.]
    • 1611, The Bible, Authorized Version, Ruth II.10:

      Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

12. (Britain, informal) The deep familiarity with certain routes and places of interest required by taxicab drivers working in London, England.
    • 2002, Malcolm Bobbitt, Taxi! - The Story of the London Cab

      There is only one sure way to memorise the runs and that is to follow them, either on foot, cycle or motor cycle; hence, the familiar sight of would-be cabbies learning the knowledge during evenings and weekends.

Quotations

• 1996, Jan Jindy Pettman, Worlding Women: A feminist international politics, pages ix-x:

  There are by now many feminisms (Tong, 1989; Humm, 1992). […] They are in shifting alliance or contest with postmodern critiques, which at times seem to threaten the very category 'women' and its possibilities for a feminist politics. These debates inform this attempt at worlding women—moving beyond white western power centres and their dominant knowledges […].

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with “knowledge”: extensive, deep, superficial, theoretical, practical, useful, working, encyclopedic, public, private, scientific, tacit, explicit, general, specialized, special, broad, declarative, procedural, innate, etc.

Synonyms

• awareness
• cognizance
• ken
• knowingness
• learning

Antonyms

• ignorance

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• know
• knowing

Translations

Verb

knowledge (third-person singular simple present knowledges, present participle knowledging, simple past and past participle knowledged)

1. (obsolete) To confess as true; to acknowledge. [13th-17th c.]
   • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 3:

     Then went oute to hym Jerusalem, and all Jury, and all the region rounde aboute Jordan, and were baptised of hym in Jordan, knoledging their synnes.

See also

• data
• erudition
• information
• know-how
• perception
• wisdom

Further reading

• knowledge in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• knowledge in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.