adjective
-
providing knowledge; instructive or informative
an educational toy
-
of or relating to education
Other Word Forms
- antieducational adjective
- antieducationally adverb
- countereducational noun
- countereducationally adverb
- educationally adverb
- noneducational adjective
- noneducationally adverb
- posteducational adjective
- preeducational adjective
- preeducationally adverb
- pseudoeducational adjective
- pseudoeducationally adverb
- quasi-educational adjective
- quasi-educationally adverb
Etymology
Origin of educational
Explanation
If something is educational, it teaches you some new information or gives you new knowledge. Listening to an organic farmer describe the process of beekeeping can be very educational. The adjective educational describes something that imparts new skills or knowledge. Reading a recipe is educational, if it teaches you how to make a perfect buttercream frosting for your cake, and a French class is also educational, as long as you learn something new from it. The word comes from the noun education, or "the process of teaching or learning," which actually meant "childrearing" in the 1500s, and was used interchangeably to mean "the training of animals."
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.
An overreliance on the site for educational content has created a gateway for students to view other videos, some of them inappropriate, on school-issued devices.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
A resident of Brentwood, Adam Miller is the former chief executive of Cornerstone OnDemand, a global educational technology company.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
Dr Sarah Harvey, senior research officer at Inform, an educational charity based at King's College London, said the group had their "own specific beliefs and practices".
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
In Ben Warren’s science class, nearly all educational content has been on the iPad: instead of live science experiments, the teacher showed a YouTube video.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
It has shaped him as much or more than any other cultural, social, or educational force, or combination thereof.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
