If you can use these 10 words correctly in conversation, your intellect is well above average

I was grabbing coffee in Venice Beach last week when I overheard someone describe a situation as "dichotomous." Not "split" or "divided." Dichotomous. The barista paused mid-pour, clearly impressed, and I found myself thinking about how certain words just hit differently.

Here's the thing about vocabulary: it's not about showing off or sounding pretentious. It's about precision. The right word at the right moment can clarify an entire thought that might otherwise take three clumsy sentences to explain.

So today, we're looking at ten words that signal something interesting about how your brain works. If you can use these naturally in conversation, without stumbling or second-guessing yourself, you're probably operating at a pretty high cognitive level.

1) Nuanced

Most conversations happen in black and white. You're either for something or against it. You love it or hate it. But reality? Reality lives in the gray areas.

When you describe something as nuanced, you're acknowledging complexity. You're saying there are layers here, subtleties that matter, distinctions worth making.

I use this word constantly when talking about veganism. My partner eats pepperoni pizza with ranch while I'm over here with my tofu bánh mì, and our relationship works because we understand that dietary choices are nuanced. They're wrapped up in culture, access, upbringing, and a dozen other factors.

People who grasp nuance tend to be better listeners. They ask more questions. They're less likely to reduce complicated issues to bumper-sticker slogans.

2) Pragmatic

Here's a word that separates the dreamers from the doers.

Being pragmatic means you're focused on what actually works rather than what sounds good in theory. You're dealing with the world as it is, not as you wish it were.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my evangelical vegan phase. I had all the statistics, all the moral arguments, all the factory farming footage. But you know what? None of it worked. People just dug in harder.

The pragmatic approach? Cook someone a killer lentil bolognese and let the food do the talking. My friend Marcus went vegetarian six months after I stopped preaching at him and started just living my life.

Pragmatism isn't about giving up on ideals. It's about finding paths that actually lead somewhere.

3) Ambivalent

This one gets misused all the time. People think it means you don't care, but that's not it at all.

Ambivalence is having strong feelings in two opposite directions simultaneously. You want something and you don't want it. You're drawn to it and repelled by it. The feelings exist together, creating this uncomfortable tension.

I'm ambivalent about social media. Part of me loves sharing food photos and connecting with the plant-based community. Another part of me hates the performative aspect, the endless scrolling, the way it commodifies every moment.

Both feelings are real. Both exist at once. That's ambivalence.

People with high intellect tend to recognize this state in themselves more readily. They're comfortable holding contradictory emotions without rushing to resolve them.

4) Catalyst

In chemistry, a catalyst speeds up a reaction without being consumed in the process. In conversation, it's the thing that sets everything else in motion.

Watching that documentary eight years ago was the catalyst for my entire lifestyle change. Two days later, I'd cleaned out my fridge and donated my leather jacket. The documentary didn't change with me, but it changed everything about me.

When you can identify catalysts, in your life or in broader systems, you're thinking at a different level. You're seeing cause and effect. You're understanding that some small things create disproportionate impacts.

This word shows you think in terms of systems and triggers, not just isolated events.

5) Juxtapose

To juxtapose is to place two things side by side, usually to highlight their differences or create meaning through contrast.

I love this word because it's fundamentally about comparison and analysis. You're not just noticing two separate things. You're deliberately putting them next to each other to reveal something new.

Living in Los Angeles while growing up in suburban Sacramento creates this constant juxtaposition in my mind. The pace, the culture, the food scene, they're all different in ways that become more apparent when you experience both.

People who naturally juxtapose ideas tend to spot patterns others miss. They're always comparing, contrasting, finding connections.

6) Implicit

Something implicit is understood without being directly stated. It's there in the subtext, in the assumptions, in what's left unsaid.

This word matters because so much of human communication happens below the surface. The explicit message might be "let's grab dinner sometime," but the implicit message could be anything from "I miss you" to "we need to talk" depending on context and tone.

When someone dropped their plans to bring me soup when I had the flu in college, my grandmother drove six hours to do it. The implicit message? You matter to me more than my Saturday plans.

People with strong intellects pick up on implicit meanings. They read between the lines. They understand that what's not said is often more important than what is.

7) Ubiquitous

Ubiquitous means present everywhere simultaneously. It's that thing you literally cannot escape because it's become so pervasive.

Smartphones are ubiquitous. You can't go anywhere without seeing them. Coffee shops, hiking trails, family dinners, everyone's got one within arm's reach.

This word shows you're thinking about scale and prevalence. You're noticing patterns across different contexts and recognizing when something has achieved total saturation.

Growing up with tech and now being in my forties, I've watched things become ubiquitous in real time. Indie music blogs, plant-based milk options, true crime podcasts, they all went from niche to everywhere.

8) Existential

Most people use this word wrong, slapping it onto anything that feels important or scary. But existential specifically relates to existence itself, to the fundamental questions of being and meaning.

An existential crisis isn't just a bad day. It's that moment when you question the entire framework of your life. Who am I? What's the point? Does any of this matter?

That moment at Thanksgiving when my grandmother cried because I rejected her food? That touched on something existential for her. Food wasn't just fuel. It was love, tradition, connection, identity. My veganism challenged something fundamental about how she expressed care.

Using this word correctly means you're engaging with the big questions, not just the daily logistics.

9) Mitigate

To mitigate is to make something less severe, to reduce harm without eliminating it entirely.

This is a word about practical damage control. You can't fix the problem completely, but you can make it better. You can soften the blow.

When I realized I'd damaged relationships during my preachy vegan phase, I couldn't undo those years. But I could mitigate the damage by apologizing, by changing my behavior, by showing up differently going forward.

People who use this word understand that perfect solutions are rare. Sometimes you're managing trade-offs, not solving problems.

10) Intrinsic

Something intrinsic belongs to the essential nature of a thing. It's built in, inherent, inseparable from what something is.

This word matters because it distinguishes between what's fundamental and what's added on. Intrinsic value versus assigned value. Intrinsic motivation versus external pressure.

My self-motivation to write and create content is intrinsic. Nobody's making me do it. The drive comes from inside, from something core to who I am.

High-intellect people often distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic factors. They understand what's genuinely part of something versus what's imposed from outside.

Conclusion

Vocabulary isn't everything, obviously. I've met people who could define all these words but couldn't hold a decent conversation to save their lives.

But here's what these words have in common: they all require you to think in specific, sophisticated ways. Nuance requires seeing complexity. Pragmatic requires balancing ideals with reality. Ambivalent requires holding contradictions.

If these words feel natural to you, if they pop up in your thinking without effort, that's a pretty good sign your brain is doing interesting work.

And if some of them feel unfamiliar? Well, now you know them. Use them. Make them yours. Language shapes thought as much as thought shapes language.