academic

American  

[ak-uh-dem-ik] / ˌæk əˈdɛm ɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to a college, academy, school, or other educational institution.

   academic requirements.

2. pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics.

   Synonyms:

   liberal, humanist

3. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful.

   an academic question;

   an academic discussion of a matter already decided.

4. learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, common sense, or practicality.

   Synonyms:

   theoretical

5. conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional.

   academic painting.

6. acquired by formal education, especially at a college or university.

   academic preparation for the ministry.

7. Academic, of or relating to Academe or to the Platonic school of philosophy.

---

noun

academics plural

1. a student or teacher at a college or university.

2. a person who is academic in background, attitudes, methods, etc..

   He was by temperament an academic, concerned with books and the arts.

3. Academic, a person who supports or advocates the Platonic school of philosophy.

4. academics, the scholarly activities of a school or university, as classroom studies or research projects.

   more emphasis on academics and less on athletics.

academic British  

/ ˌækəˈdɛmɪk /

adjective

1. belonging or relating to a place of learning, esp a college, university, or academy

2. of purely theoretical or speculative interest

   an academic argument

3. excessively concerned with intellectual matters and lacking experience of practical affairs

4. (esp of a schoolchild) having an aptitude for study

5. conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional

   an academic painter

6. relating to studies such as languages, philosophy, and pure science, rather than applied, technical, or professional studies

---

noun

1. a member of a college or university

Synonym Usage

See formal.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antiacademic
  adjective
• interacademic
  adjective
• nonacademic
  adjective
• proacademic
  adjective
• pseudoacademic
  adjective
• quasi-academic
  adjective
• semiacademic
  adjective
• subacademic
  adjective
• unacademic
  adjective
• academically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• academics
  plural

Etymology

Origin of academic

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin Acadēmicus, from Greek Akadēmeikós. See academy, academe, -ic

Explanation

Something that is academic is related to school. Your parents might want to spend less time playing video games and more time focusing on academic pursuits. The noun academic refers to a professor or scholar. As a noun or an adjective, academic relates to book learning and not always in a good way. An academic discussion back in Plato's Academy was probably something better than what it has more recently come to mean: a discussion that's academic has no place in the real world; it's not practical. An academic might have a PhD in Robotics but not know how to work the TV. It doesn't have to mean stuffy, though, just related to college — like when you need an academic gown for graduation.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

academic academics

Merced admitted nearly everyone who met UC’s academic requirements.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Don’t let anyone convince you that we don’t know how to shrink America’s persistent academic achievement gap.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

As he continues a flurry of early policy announcements, Burnham on Tuesday set out plans to strike a balance in the education system between prioritising academic and technical skills.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

The Times refers to the rejigged curriculum proposal as "Burnham's 'hard hat' schools", saying that "children as young as 14 will be encouraged into technical training rather than academic education".

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

“The fact that I was unable to interpret it did not bother me. It was certainly better to imagine myself becoming famous than maturing into a stifled academic who had never risked a thought.”

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Commonly used by journalists, lawyers, academics and advocacy groups such as the ACLU, public information can be requested by anyone under the California Public Records Act.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Two Chinese academics have won the world's top prize for mathematics for the first time, according to state media.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

To understand how he did that, I spoke with dozens of former Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump administration officials, as well as academics, cryptocurrency and foreign policy experts, real estate moguls, and politicians.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

For families who want full-time dedicated staff, a travel nanny costs $120,000 to $170,000 a year; a private governess, a tutor who blends academics with social development, can today reach $200,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

We have academics in the morning, then gym or whatever PE class we are required to take.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Related Words

• academician
• lecturer
• professor
• scholar
• student