academic

[ak-uh-dem-ik]

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.

   Synonyms: liberal, humanist

3. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful.

   an academic question;

   an academic discussion of a matter already decided.

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

   Synonyms: theoretical

5. conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional.

   academic painting.

6. acquired by formal education, especially at a college or university.

   academic preparation for the ministry.

7. 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.

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

4. academics, the scholarly activities of a school or university, as classroom studies or research projects.

   more emphasis on academics and less on athletics.

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

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

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

5. conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional

   an academic painter

6. 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

Other Word Forms

• academically adverb
• antiacademic adjective
• interacademic adjective
• nonacademic adjective
• proacademic adjective
• pseudoacademic adjective
• quasi-academic adjective
• semiacademic adjective
• subacademic adjective
• unacademic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of academic¹

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

Synonym Study

See formal.

Example Sentences

The movement for the academic boycott of Israel was “born in Britain in about 2002.”

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The company has begun collaborating with other startup companies and academic groups involved in semiconductor production, he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

And academic recovery — as measured by test scores — has proved a stubbornly difficult hurdle across the nation, long after students left behind online learning and returned to in-person classes.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I am an average American in retirement, with an advanced academic degree.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The Halifax International Security Forum, an annual gathering of government and military officials along with academics in Canada, was among the institutions targeted.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• academician 
• lecturer 
• professor 
• scholar 
• student