Sabbatical
[suh-bat-i-kuh l]
- of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.
- (lowercase) of or relating to a sabbatical year.
- (lowercase) bringing a period of rest.
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- (lowercase) sabbatical year.
- (lowercase) any extended period of leave from one's customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.
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Sometimes Sab·bat·ic.
Origin of Sabbatical
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sabbatical
Contemporary Examples
I was also teaching my courses at UC-Berkeley much of that time, though I had time off in the summers and through a sabbatical.
After a four-year sabbatical, today LeBron James decided to go back home.
Her recent medical episode underscores her need for a sabbatical.
Historical Examples
Every statesman like every professor should have his sabbatical year.
A Preface to PoliticsWalter Lippmann
Has this principle any reference to the sabbatical ordinance?
The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 1 (of 4)Thomas Babington Macaulay
The Jubilee allowed the same privileges as the sabbatical year.
Synopsis of Jewish HistoryHenry A. Henry
He must have meant, not "years," but weeks of years—Sabbatical years.
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of DanielF. W. Farrar
What more hardy than his dealing with the sabbatical year, with idolatry?
A Defence of VirginiaRobert L. Dabney
sabbatical
- denoting a period of leave granted to university staff, teachers, etc, esp approximately every seventh yeara sabbatical year; sabbatical leave
- denoting a post that renders the holder eligible for such leave
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- any sabbatical period
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Word Origin
C16: from Greek sabbatikos; see Sabbath
Sabbatical
- of, relating to, or appropriate to the Sabbath as a day of rest and religious observance
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- short for sabbatical year
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sabbatical
adj.
1640s, "of or suitable for the Sabbath," from Latin sabbaticus, from Greek sabbatikos "of the Sabbath" (see Sabbath). Noun meaning "a year's absence granted to researchers" (originally one year in seven, to university professors) is from 1934, short for sabbatical year, etc., first recorded 1886 (the thing itself is attested from 1880, at Harvard), related to sabbatical year (1590s) in Mosaic law, the seventh year, in which land was to remain untilled and debtors and slaves released.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper