scholar
Americannoun
-
scholars
plural
-
a learned or erudite person, especially one who has profound knowledge of a particular subject.
- Synonyms:
- savant
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a student; pupil.
-
a student who has been awarded a scholarship.
noun
-
a learned person, esp in the humanities
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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
Synonym Usage
See pupil 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
As a legal scholar researching the evolution of modern presidential clemency, I have reviewed every individual pardon and commutation granted by U.S. presidents since 1989, spanning seven administrations, from George H.W.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
Dr B Amo Konyak, a scholar of Konyak society, says the changes during this period were almost like a disappearance.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Your wife, Sarah, is an Andy Warhol scholar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Feulner was known more as an advocate than a scholar, and Heritage scholars generally wrote their own material, which I sometimes compressed to op-ed length.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
One example is Miki Kiyoshi, a philosopher, scholar, and university professor who was active in the anti-fascist movement in Japan.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Every scroll that was successfully opened physically contained writing previously unknown to scholars.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
For scholars who study ancient writing, the potential importance is difficult to overstate.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
One recent initiative of this type relates to the visas held by international students, researchers and scholars, and journalists.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Publicly, many of the same scholars said nothing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
Critics, scholars, and curators are not our adversaries.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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.
