Mind, intellect, soul, psyche, brain, intelligence, wit are comparable when they mean the sum total of powers, often felt as a distinct entity, by means of which each individual knows and understands both his inner life and the external world and establishes effective relations between them and which are commonly felt as the distinctive possession of human beings.
Mind indicates the complex of man’s faculties involved in perceiving, remembering, considering, evaluating, and deciding; it contrasts variously with body, heart, soul, and spirit.
Mind may indicate the peculiar complex of a particular individual as differing from all others.
Intellect, sometimes interchangeable with mind, may focus attention on the powers of knowing and thinking by which one may comprehend, consider, and conclude and especially the more coldly analytic powers, independent of and discrete from willing and feeling.
Soul (see also SOUL 2 ), used with considerable variation in meaning and suggestion, may indicate that principle which vitalizes, directs, selects, or inspires in matters emotional and volitional as well as mental.
Psyche may refer to the totality of self composed of all attributes, powers, and activities not purely bodily or somatic but definitely including the unconscious or subconscious.
Brain, often as the plural brains, may more forcefully than intellect focus attention on powers of individual comprehension or independent thought.
Intelligence is likely to imply specific ability to cope with problems and situations and may apply to exhibition of the play of powers of the intellect or comparable ones.
Wit, often as the plural wits, may refer to a mind marked by inborn capacity, strong common sense, bright perception, or ready intelligence.