Sabbatical
adjective
of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.
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Sabbatical
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sabbatical
sabbaticaladjectivedenoting a period of leave granted to university staff, teachers, etc, esp approximately every seventh year
Sabbatical
American
[suh-bat-i-kuhl]
/ səˈbæt ɪ kəl /
Sometimes
Sabbatic
adjective
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of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.
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(lowercase) of or relating to a sabbatical year.
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(lowercase) bringing a period of rest.
noun
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(lowercase) sabbatical year.
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(lowercase) any extended period of leave from one's customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.
sabbatical
1
British
/ səˈbætɪkəl /
adjective
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denoting a period of leave granted to university staff, teachers, etc, esp approximately every seventh year
a sabbatical year
sabbatical leave
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denoting a post that renders the holder eligible for such leave
noun
Sabbatical
2
British
/ səˈbætɪkəl /
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Sabbatical
First recorded in 1605–15; equivalent to Greek sabbatikós (from sábbat(on) Sabbath + -ikos -ic ) + -al 1
Explanation
If your job entitles you, you probably take a sabbatical every seven years, which means you get a year of paid leave to do whatever you want to further your understanding of the world. The word sabbatical, which can be a noun or an adjective, comes from the Greek word sabatikos, which means “of the Sabbath,” the day of rest that happens every seventh day. Most teaching jobs come with the promise of a sabbatical, which is a year of not having to teach, though you still get paid. During your sabbatical, you usually are expected to do research and perhaps write a book — in other words, keep working.
Vocabulary lists containing sabbatical
Nothing But the Truth
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The Last Lecture
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Little Fires Everywhere
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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:
She is among leaders of the Sabbatical Project, which aims to create “a more humane relationship with work” by encouraging extended leaves.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Portions of the work were supported by a Research Sabbatical grant to Gilmore from Research to Prevent Blindness to explore the origins of antibiotic resistance.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 29, 2024
Research by DJ DiDonna, founder of the Sabbatical Project and a senior lecturer at Harvard, found that 80 percent of people who take sabbaticals returned to their company refreshed.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2023
Sabbatical haze, she adds, her explanation these days for everything.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2019
Rabbi Chanina, the son of Antigonus, said, “if they can be pulled up by their leaves they are forbidden; and contrariwise if it happened so in the close of the Sabbatical year, they are allowed.”
From Hebrew Literature by Epiphanius Wilson
One was a tech engineer who took a sabbatical year at age 44 with income near zero after exercising options strategically to free up cash to pay the tax.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Yapp will work part-time for the Lions from July, before taking a full sabbatical from the RFU to work full-time as Lions head coach from January.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
The very public sabbatical produced one of his best-known albums, 1962's "The Bridge," and has led to proposals to rename the Williamsburg Bridge in Rollins' honor.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
The filings show City Controller Kenneth Mejia has a far smaller war chest than challenger Zach Sokoloff, who is on sabbatical from his role as a senior vice president at Hackman Capital Partners.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Ashima regrets that they can’t go earlier, in time for Durga pujo, but it will be years before Ashoke is eligible for a sabbatical, and three weeks in December is all they can manage.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
