mathematician
Americannoun
-
mathematicians
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Depicted in the Oscar-winning film "The Imitation Game", Bletchley Park, north of London, was a country house where mathematician Alan Turing cracked the code on encrypted Nazi messages.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
In 1900, German mathematician David Hilbert asked what would become known as Hilbert's Sixth Problem, how the behaviour of a whole can be calculated based on the movement of individual particles.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
In his classic book “Innumeracy,” mathematician John Allen Paulos observed that people are inclined to think that 1 trillion and 1 billion are about as close together as 1 billion and 1 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
A mathematician may spend a career in discrete geometry without developing any familiarity with the sophisticated tools of algebraic number theory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
“A mathematician? Then here’s an interesting problem for you, Mr. Bowditch. Five years ago, I inherited some money in Ireland.”
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
One of the greatest mathematicians of his generation is working on AI safety because he believes it’s the most important problem that he can help solve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
He said it is a "really great honor to have my name listed after all those great mathematicians I've always been admiring".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Despite the medium’s many scholars and the mathematicians working hard to calculate box office predictions and forecast trends, film is not an exact science.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Rather, it aims to expand the pool of scientists, technical experts, engineers and mathematicians beyond the traditional candidates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Modern mathematicians would say that Gog, the wolf carver, used a five-based or quinary counting system.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
