intellectual elite
Scholars and thinkers
The intellectual elite are people regarded as the most educated, cultured, or intellectually accomplished members of a society.
The term can be neutral or admiring, but it often carries a dismissive or hostile tone, implying that such people are out of touch with ordinary citizens or look down on them.
The intellectual elite have always favored policies that benefit themselves.
Politicians frequently invoke the intellectual elite as a target, contrasting them with "regular" or "hardworking" people.
- policymakerOne who sets rules
- ethicistExpert in moral theory
- scholarLearned, studious person
- professorSenior university teacher
- artistMaker of creative works
researcher · writer · logician · activist · old guard · poet · linguist · economist · cognoscenti · historian · literati · ivory tower · theorist · cultural critic · philosopher · armchair philosopher · metaphysician · epistemologist
- elite educationboarding schools, prep schools, private schools, international schools, Eton
intellectual elitethe masses
Common populace collectively
common people · ordinary people · working class · hoi polloi · rank and file
intellectual eliteanti-intellectuals
Those opposing learned discourse
know-nothings · philistines · ignoramuses · lowbrows · men of action
intellectual elitesalt of the earth
Fundamentally decent, reliable people
Main Street · silent majority · everyday people · grassroots · common man
intellectual, elite, intellect, intellection, intellectually, intellectualism, intellectualize, intelligence, intelligent