different between intuitive vs spontaneous

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French intuitif, from Medieval Latin intuitivus, from Latin intueri.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?tju??t?v/

Adjective

intuitive (comparative more intuitive, superlative most intuitive)

1. Spontaneous, without requiring conscious thought.
   • 2013 February 16, Laurie Goodstein, “Cardinals Size Up Potential Candidates for New Pope”, NYTimes.com:

     These impressions [of potential papal candidates], collected from interviews with a variety of church officials and experts, may influence the very intuitive, often unpredictable process the cardinals will use to decide who should lead the world’s largest church.

   The intuitive response turned out to be correct.

2. Easily understood or grasped by intuition.

   Designing software with an intuitive interface can be difficult.

3. Having a marked degree of intuition.

Antonyms

• unintuitive
• nonintuitive
• counterintuitive

Related terms

• intuition
• intuit

Translations

Noun

intuitive (plural intuitives)

1. One who has (especially parapsychological) intuition.

French

Adjective

intuitive

1. feminine singular of intuitif

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

intuitive

1. inflection of intuitiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

intuitive

1. feminine plural of intuitivo

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

intuitive

1. definite singular of intuitiv
2. plural of intuitiv

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

intuitive

1. definite singular of intuitiv
2. plural of intuitiv

English

Etymology

Late Latin spont?neus, from Latin sponte (su?) (“of one's free will, voluntarily”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sp?n?te?.ni.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sp?n?te?.ni.?s/
• Rhymes: -e?ni?s

Adjective

spontaneous (comparative more spontaneous, superlative most spontaneous)

1. Self-generated; happening without any apparent external cause.

   He made a spontaneous offer of help.

2. Done by one's own free choice, or without planning.
3. Proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external or conscious constraint
4. Arising from a momentary impulse
5. Controlled and directed internally; self-active; spontaneous movement characteristic of living things
6. Produced without being planted or without human cultivation or labor.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:

     [H]e persisted in his design; and, because he would not make his wants known, actually subsisted for several days on hips, haws and sloes, and other spontaneous fruits which he gathered in the woods and fields.

7. Random.
8. Sudden, without warning.

Synonyms

• (self-generated): autonomous
• (done by one's own free choice): autonomous
• (proceeding from natural feeling...): autonomous
• (sudden, without warning): abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden

Derived terms

• spontaneity
• spontaneously

Related terms

• spontaneous combustion

Translations