Will vs. Intellect — What's the Difference?

The mental determination to achieve a goal.

A person's capacity for creative thinking.

A conscious choice or decision.

The mental capacity to analyze and understand.

Personal power to resist temptations or distractions.

An individual's pursuit of academic and intellectual growth.

The motivation to initiate or pursue action.

The ability to apply logic and reason.

The control or direction one exerts over their actions.

Rational judgment based on information and analysis.

The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action

In the study of the human mind, intellect refers to and identifies the ability of the mind to reach correct conclusions about what is true and what is false, and about how to solve problems. The term intellect derives from the Ancient Greek philosophy term nous, which translates to the Latin intellectus (from intelligere, “to understand”) and into the French and English languages as intelligence.

Diligent purposefulness; determination

The ability to learn and reason; the capacity for knowledge and understanding

Self-control; self-discipline

A person's individual ability to think and reason

A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority

A person of great intellectual ability

Deliberate intention or wish

(uncountable) The faculty of thinking, judging, abstract reasoning, and conceptual understanding; the cognitive faculty.

Free discretion; inclination or pleasure

(uncountable) The capacity of that faculty (in a particular person).

Bearing or attitude toward others; disposition

A person who has that faculty to a great degree.

A legal declaration of how a person wishes their personal possessions to be disposed of after death.

The part or faculty of the human mind by which it knows, as distinguished from the power to feel and to will; the power to judge and comprehend; the thinking faculty; the understanding.

A legally executed document containing this declaration.

The capacity for higher forms of knowledge, as distinguished from the power to perceive objects in their relations; mental capacity.

To decide on or intend

A particular mind, especially a person of high intelligence; as, he was a great intellect.

To yearn for; desire

Knowledge and intellectual ability;

To decree, dictate, or order

The capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination;

To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will

A person who uses the mind creatively

To grant in a legal will; bequeath

To order to direct in a legal will

To exercise the will.

To make a choice; choose

To wish; desire

(auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with some implication of volition when used in the first person. Compare shall.

(auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.

(auxiliary) Expressing a present tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".

(auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action).

(auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive), often in questions and negation.

To wish, desire (something).

To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).

(archaic) Implying will go.

To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.

(transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).

(transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.

One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.

The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.

One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.

Firmity of purpose, fixity of intent

(law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.

(archaic) That which is desired; one's wish.

(archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)

The power of choosing; the faculty or endowment of the soul by which it is capable of choosing; the faculty or power of the mind by which we decide to do or not to do; the power or faculty of preferring or selecting one of two or more objects.

The choice which is made; a determination or preference which results from the act or exercise of the power of choice; a volition.

The choice or determination of one who has authority; a decree; a command; discretionary pleasure.

Strong wish or inclination; desire; purpose.

That which is strongly wished or desired.

Arbitrary disposal; power to control, dispose, or determine.

The legal declaration of a person's mind as to the manner in which he would have his property or estate disposed of after his death; the written instrument, legally executed, by which a man makes disposition of his estate, to take effect after his death; testament; devise. See the Note under Testament, 1.

To wish; to desire; to incline to have.

As an auxiliary, will is used to denote futurity dependent on the verb. Thus, in first person, "I will" denotes willingness, consent, promise; and when "will" is emphasized, it denotes determination or fixed purpose; as, I will go if you wish; I will go at all hazards. In the second and third persons, the idea of distinct volition, wish, or purpose is evanescent, and simple certainty is appropriately expressed; as, "You will go," or "He will go," describes a future event as a fact only. To emphasize will denotes (according to the tone or context) certain futurity or fixed determination.

To be willing; to be inclined or disposed; to be pleased; to wish; to desire.

To form a distinct volition of; to determine by an act of choice; to ordain; to decree.

To enjoin or command, as that which is determined by an act of volition; to direct; to order.

To give or direct the disposal of by testament; to bequeath; to devise; as, to will one's estate to a child; also, to order or direct by testament; as, he willed that his nephew should have his watch.

To exercise an act of volition; to choose; to decide; to determine; to decree.

The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention;

A fixed and persistent intent or purpose;

A legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die

Decree or ordain;

Have in mind;

Determine by choice;

Leave or give by will after one's death;

Yes, intellect can be enhanced through continuous learning and critical thinking.

They are complementary; willpower motivates action, while intellect guides decisions.

Yes, willpower can be strengthened through practice, habits, and self-discipline.

Both are important; will provides the drive, and intellect ensures thoughtful decision-making.

Yes, willpower can be strong independently, but intellect enhances decision quality.

Ideally, but biases or incomplete information can affect even rational decisions.

Directly measuring will is challenging, but consistency and perseverance reflect strong willpower.

Desire is a longing for something, while will turns that desire into action.

Intellect relates to the application of intelligence, but they are closely related.

Strong will can sometimes lead to stubbornness or ignoring logical reasoning.

Will is often tied to intrinsic desires, but it can also be influenced by reason.

It can, particularly with fatigue or lack of motivation, but it can also be rebuilt.

To some extent, using standardized tests or assessments, but it is not absolute.

It often relies on knowledge but can include intuitive insights and creativity.

By aligning intrinsic motivation with well-informed, logical decision-making processes.