mathematician
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- nonmathematician noun
Etymology
Origin of mathematician
First recorded in 1400–50, mathematician is from the late Middle English word mathematicion. See mathematics, -ian
Explanation
Use the noun mathematician when you talk about someone who is highly educated in — and good at — math. Your math teacher might be a great mathematician who's also gifted at explaining math to students. You can call a person who does math for a living a mathematician, like a math professor or someone who works in statistics or as an actuary. Actually, anyone who has great skill at mathematics is also a mathematician, even if they work as a chef or a taxi driver. The word mathematician is rooted in the Greek mathematikos, which means "relating to mathematics, or scientific," or simply "disposed to learn."
Vocabulary lists containing mathematician
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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.
A team of researchers led by California Institute of Technology computer scientist and mathematician Babak Hassibi says it has created a large language model that radically compresses its size without compromising performance.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
The explanation traces back to work by the French mathematician Gaston Floquet, who showed in the 19th century that systems exposed to periodic forces can develop entirely new oscillation states.
From Science Daily • Mar. 27, 2026
We ran our findings and methodology by Phil Neff, a researcher at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights and Joseph Gunther, a mathematician who researches immigration-related datasets and former ICE officials.
From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026
The Turing Award, named after the mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing, is known as the "Nobel Prize of computing".
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
In 1567 the great Protestant logician and mathematician Petrus Ramus referred to ‘the laws of Ptolemy’ and ‘the laws of Euclid’.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
