Jump To:

• Sabbatical
  Sabbatical

  adjective

  of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.
• sabbatical
  sabbatical

  adjective

  denoting 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

1. of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.

2. (lowercase) of or relating to a sabbatical year.

3. (lowercase) bringing a period of rest.

---

noun

1. (lowercase) sabbatical year.

2. (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

1. denoting a period of leave granted to university staff, teachers, etc, esp approximately every seventh year

   a sabbatical year

   sabbatical leave

2. denoting a post that renders the holder eligible for such leave

---

noun

1. any sabbatical period

Sabbatical ² British  

/ səˈbætɪkəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or appropriate to the Sabbath as a day of rest and religious observance

---

noun

1. short for sabbatical year

Other Word Forms

• Sabbaticalness
  noun
• non-Sabbatic
  adjective
• non-Sabbatical
  adjective
• Sabbatically
  adverb
• non-Sabbatically
  adverb

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Sabbatical sabbatical

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

I–are put off with mere Sabbatical days or hours.

From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul

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

I enjoyed my life in the City of Brotherly Love, but I had read that Ecuador was affordable and thought that I could decamp there as a temporary base for my self-imposed sabbatical.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

There was no pork served in the dining room, and from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, the devout observed a sabbatical decorum.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Related Words

• furlough
• leave of absence
• recess
• time off