scholar
Americannoun
-
a learned or erudite person, especially one who has profound knowledge of a particular subject.
- Synonyms:
- savant
-
a student; pupil.
-
a student who has been awarded a scholarship.
noun
-
a learned person, esp in the humanities
-
a person, esp a child, who studies; pupil
-
a student of merit at an educational establishment who receives financial aid, esp from an endowment given for such a purpose
-
a school pupil
Related Words
See pupil 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scholar
First recorded before 1000; from Late Latin scholāris, equivalent to Latin schol(a) school 1 + -āris -ar 1; replacing Middle English scoler(e), Old English scolere, from Late Latin, as above
Explanation
Someone who learns is a scholar, though the word also means someone with a lot of knowledge in one subject. If you know a lot about books, you could be called a literary scholar. It doesn't take a Latin scholar to understand the word scholar. It probably reminds you of school, scholastic, and scholarship. That's because they all share the Latin root schola which means school. A scholar in the academic sense usually has his or her area of specialty in the humanities as opposed to the sciences.
Vocabulary lists containing scholar
Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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The Renaissance and Early Modern European History - Introductory
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Dwight D. Eisenhower, "The Military-Industrial Complex" (1961)
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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.
As a scholar who researches the relationship between Christianity and fashion, I have traced how Christian imagery circulates in surprising forms.
From Salon • May 17, 2026
The legal scholar Prof Colin Murray says the court has "radically narrowed" the range of cases in which Article 2 can be applied.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Tang began the project while working as a postdoctoral scholar in Trussell's laboratory.
From Science Daily • May 15, 2026
“We are reluctant to admit that the Ukrainians are now probably the world leaders on both drone offense and defense,” said Eliot Cohen, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026
Bentley was the greatest classical scholar of his age, but he would also become a Fellow of the Royal Society.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
