polymath
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- polymathic adjective
- polymathy noun
Etymology
Origin of polymath
1615–25; < Greek polymathḗs learned, having learned much, equivalent to poly- poly- + -mathēs, adj. derivative of manthánein to learn
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.
Later this month, the world premiere of Kurtag's second opera "Die Stechardin" about the 18th-century love story of a German polymath and a flower girl will cap the centenary of his birth.
From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026
It’s hardly surprising that there’s a strong market for books and articles claiming to demystify the painting’s creator, even though not much is definitively known about the Italian polymath.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
After leaving the military, Burkle became a medical polymath, qualified in five different specialties he felt would be necessary: emergency medicine, pediatrics, adolescent medicine, public health and psychiatry.
From Salon • Feb. 8, 2025
For all we know, Eric’s payback may be as much about that horse as Shelly, a thinly realized character who will ultimately neither help nor harm twigs’ brand as an entrancing art polymath.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 2024
Something of a polymath, he was a Fellow of All Souls College in Oxford, physician to Edward VI and to Queen Mary, and sometime general surveyor of mines and money for the Crown.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
