Other Word Forms
- pseudoscholarly adjective
- quasi-scholarly adjective
- scholarliness noun
- superscholarly adjective
- unscholarly adjective
Etymology
Origin of scholarly
Explanation
Someone who's scholarly is a serious student. You can describe your studious friend who's always working on a research paper or reading a huge book as scholarly. Use the adjective scholarly when you talk about a person who is focused on learning — in other words, a scholar. You can also describe things that relate to studying or knowledge as scholarly, like a scholarly article in a journal or a scholarly atmosphere in a library. The Old English word scolere, or "student," is the root of both scholar and scholarly, from the Latin word for school, schola.
Vocabulary lists containing scholarly
Chapter 1: What Does a Historian Do?
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Words to Describe a Teacher
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
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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.
The fiasco brought additional scrutiny to Ms. Gay, whose scant scholarly record invited credible accusations of plagiarism.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
Fadiah wrote on X that being denied entry was "tantamount to a deliberate attack on my scholarly work".
From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026
Acuña contributed chapters in dozens of anthologies and scholarly texts and wrote numerous book reviews, several children’s books, scholarly articles and opinion pieces in academic journals, magazines, listservs and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026
The manuscript has received little scholarly attention, which Dr. Ilko believes is because its miracles were considered too rural in focus.
From Science Daily • Feb. 2, 2026
“Would you like to take the book out?” asks the librarian, a scholarly looking man who is settling down in his chair to work.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
