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Origin and history of anti-intellectual

anti-intellectual(adj.)

"scorning intellectuals and their ways," 1821, from anti- + intellectual. As a noun meaning "an anti-intellectual person" from 1913.

also from 1821

Entries linking to anti-intellectual

intellectual(adj.)

late 14c., "grasped by the understanding" (rather than by the senses), from Old French intellectuel (13c.) and directly from Latin intellectualis "relating to the understanding," from intellectus "discernment, understanding," noun use of past participle of intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence).

Sense of "characterized by a high degree of intellect" is from 1819. Meaning "appealing to or engaging the mental powers" is from 1834. Intellectual property "products of the intellect" is attested from 1845. Adjective formations in the sense "of or pertaining to the intellect" included intellective (early 15c.), intellectile (1670s).

anti-intellectualism(n.)

1904, from anti- + intellectualism; in some cases from anti-intellectual + -ism.

anti-

word-forming element of Greek origin meaning "against, opposed to, opposite of, instead," shortened to ant- before vowels and -h-, from Old French anti- and directly from Latin anti-, from Greek anti (prep.) "over, against, opposite; instead, in the place of; as good as; at the price of; for the sake of; compared with; in opposition to; in return; counter-," from PIE *anti "against," also "in front of, before" (from root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before"), which became anti- in Italian (hence antipasto) and French.

It is cognate with Sanskrit anti "over, against," and Old English and- (the first element in answer). A common compounding element in Greek, in some combinations it became anth- for euphonic reasons. It appears in some words in Middle English but was not commonly used in English word formations until modern times. In a few English words (anticipate, antique) it represents Latin ante.

In noun compounds where it has the sense of "opposed to, opposite" (Antichrist, anti-communist) the accent remains on the anti-; in adjectives where it retains its old prepositional sense "against, opposed to," the accent remains on the other element (anti-Christian, anti-slavery).

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    lowbrow
    also low-brow, "person who is not intellectual," 1902, from low (adj.) + brow (n.). Said to have been coined by U.S. journalist Will Irwin (1873-1948), perhaps on the model of highbrow, which seems to be earlier. A low brow on a man as a sign of primitive qualities was common in
    middlebrow
    wide chasm, I might almost say a vacuum, between the high-brow, who considers reading either as a trade or as a form of intellectual...system of education, giving rise to a new type that might be called the middle-brow, who will consider books as a source of intellectual...
    ingenious
    early 15c., "intellectual, talented," from Old French ingenios, engeignos "clever, ingenious" (Modern French ingénieux),...By a direct path, Latin ingenium produced Middle English ingeny "intellectual capacity, cleverness" (early 15c.), but this...
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    restorationist
    As "one who restores dilapidated buildings," by 1877 (implied, perhaps, in anti-restorationist; at any rate, restorationist...
    plebeian
    "of or characteristic of the lower class or the common people," 1560s in a Roman historical sense, from Latin plebeius "belonging to the plebs," earlier plebes, "the populace, the common people" (as opposed to patricians, etc.), also "commonality; the mass, the multitude; the low
    meme
    "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture," 1976, introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene," coined by him from Greek sources, such as mimeisthai "to imitate" (see mime (n.)), and intended to echo gene. We n
    dissertation
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