academic
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to a college, academy, school, or other educational institution.
academic requirements.
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pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics.
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theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful.
an academic question;
an academic discussion of a matter already decided.
-
learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, common sense, or practicality.
- Synonyms:
- theoretical
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conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional.
academic painting.
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acquired by formal education, especially at a college or university.
academic preparation for the ministry.
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Academic, of or relating to Academe or to the Platonic school of philosophy.
noun
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a student or teacher at a college or university.
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a person who is academic in background, attitudes, methods, etc..
He was by temperament an academic, concerned with books and the arts.
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Academic, a person who supports or advocates the Platonic school of philosophy.
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academics, the scholarly activities of a school or university, as classroom studies or research projects.
more emphasis on academics and less on athletics.
adjective
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belonging or relating to a place of learning, esp a college, university, or academy
-
of purely theoretical or speculative interest
an academic argument
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excessively concerned with intellectual matters and lacking experience of practical affairs
-
(esp of a schoolchild) having an aptitude for study
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conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional
an academic painter
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relating to studies such as languages, philosophy, and pure science, rather than applied, technical, or professional studies
noun
Related Words
See formal.
Other Word Forms
- academically adverb
- antiacademic adjective
- interacademic adjective
- nonacademic adjective
- proacademic adjective
- pseudoacademic adjective
- quasi-academic adjective
- semiacademic adjective
- subacademic adjective
- unacademic adjective
Etymology
Origin of academic
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin Acadēmicus, from Greek Akadēmeikós. See academy, academe, -ic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Researchers have made experimental 3D chips in academic labs before, but the team says this is the first time one has delivered clear performance improvements and been produced in a commercial foundry.
From Science Daily
She said she made an initial apology in a "personal" telephone conversation with the academic.
From BBC
It needs wafer-scale cryogenic integration, high-yield fabrication and architectures designed not for academic elegance but for factory floors.
From MarketWatch
The match was now academic, but two European vice-captains in the vicinity did not see it that way.
From BBC
Meanwhile, fraudulent scientific research papers are on the rise — casting a shadow over academic integrity.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
