scholarly

American  

[skol-er-lee] / ˈskɒl ər li /

adjective

1. of, like, or befitting a scholar.

   scholarly habits.

2. having the qualities of a scholar.

   a scholarly person.

3. concerned with academic learning and research.

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adverb

1. like a scholar.

Other Word Forms

• pseudoscholarly adjective
• quasi-scholarly adjective
• scholarliness noun
• superscholarly adjective
• unscholarly adjective

Etymology

Origin of scholarly

First recorded in 1590–1600; scholar + -ly

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.

Example Sentences

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

The lectures were scholarly achievements in their own right.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

My ancestor was probably only No. 3, and there is a whisper of scholarly doubt about whether he deserves to be even that high on the list.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• erudite
• intellectual
• learned