intellectual nourishment
- noun
:
nutrición intelectual
- Documentaries can offer a form of intellectual nourishment that stimulates curiosity and learning.
Examples
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Attending lectures and engaging in discussions are great ways to seek intellectual nourishment.
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To get appropriate intellectual nourishment for children whose needs are far outside the norms, we have not only to prove that the needs exist, we have to prove that the children deserve to have those needs met!
Academic text (1992) -
Reading a variety of books can provide valuable intellectual nourishment and encourage critical thinking.
Synonyms
15
3.4
An idea or remark that makes you think carefully
Antonyms
How Stimulating
- Formal
43
6.1
19
1.0
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the transparent meanings of 'intellectual' (relating to the mind) and 'nourishment' (food/what sustains), so its sense 'that which feeds or stimulates the mind' is a straightforward metaphorical extension. This metaphoric ‘food for the mind’ image is common cross-linguistically and generally inferable by learners who know the constituents, but because it relies on a figurative transfer rather than a strictly literal composition it is not fully literal.
Etymology
Intellectual nourishment uses the simple image of food for the mind: nourishment feeds the body, so books, ideas, and talks are like food that 'feed' your mind and keep it healthy. That's why it means 'mental stimulation'.