academic

[ ak-uh-dem-ik ]
See synonyms for: academicacademics on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. of or relating to a college, academy, school, or other educational institution: academic requirements.

  2. pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics.

  1. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful: an academic question;an academic discussion of a matter already decided.

  2. learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, common sense, or practicality.

  3. conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional: academic painting.

  4. acquired by formal education, especially at a college or university: academic preparation for the ministry.

  5. Academic, of or relating to Academe or to the Platonic school of philosophy.

noun
  1. a student or teacher at a college or university.

  2. a person who is academic in background, attitudes, methods, etc.: He was by temperament an academic, concerned with books and the arts.

  1. Academic, a person who supports or advocates the Platonic school of philosophy.

  2. academics, the scholarly activities of a school or university, as classroom studies or research projects: more emphasis on academics and less on athletics.

Origin of academic

1
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin Acadēmicus, from Greek Akadēmeikós. See academy, academe, -ic

synonym study For academic

5. See formal.

Other words for academic

Other words from academic

  • an·ti·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective, noun
  • in·ter·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective
  • non·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective, noun
  • pro·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective
  • pseu·do·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective
  • qua·si-ac·a·dem·ic, adjective
  • sem·i·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective
  • sub·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective
  • un·ac·a·dem·ic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use academic in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for academic

academic

/ (ˌækəˈdɛmɪk) /


adjective
  1. belonging or relating to a place of learning, esp a college, university, or academy

  2. of purely theoretical or speculative interest: an academic argument

  1. excessively concerned with intellectual matters and lacking experience of practical affairs

  2. (esp of a schoolchild) having an aptitude for study

  3. conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional: an academic painter

  4. relating to studies such as languages, philosophy, and pure science, rather than applied, technical, or professional studies

noun
  1. a member of a college or university

Derived forms of academic

  • academically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012