Definition of: intelligentsia

(in·tel′ə·jent′sē·ə, -gent′-) noun plural
Intellectual or learned people, collectively; especially those capable of thinking for themselves: sometimes used derisively: a term adopted during the Russian Revolution to differentiate the intellectual classes as such from the bourgeoisie and proletariat. Also in·tel′li·gent′zi·a. [<Russian intelligentsiya <Ital. intelligenza intelligence <L intelligentia]