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

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

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 power of Pegasus creates “unbearable temptation for abuse,” said John Scott-Railton, a researcher with the Citizen Lab, an academic research group that studies state-sponsored cyber espionage.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Believing so — or poking fun at threats to academic freedom — causes concerned students to wonder whether university leaders are, in fact, prepared to meet this moment.

Read more on Salon

He alienated many in his own profession, calling many fellow academics "dinosaurs", "deadbeats", "fossils" and "has-beens" in his autobiography, Avoid Boring People.

Read more on BBC

The deal also reestablishes the research partnership between Cornell and the federal government while also maintaining the private school’s academic freedom and institutional autonomy, Kotlikoff said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Zihipp Chair Stephen Bloom, who led the academic lab conducting the peptide research, serves as senior vice president of research and development for Metsera today.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• academician 
• lecturer 
• professor 
• scholar 
• student