academic

noun

A senior member of an academy, college, or university; a person who attends an academy; a person engaged in scholarly pursuits; one who is academic in practice.

A member of the Academy; an academician.

(plural only) Academic dress; academicals.

(plural only) Academic studies.

(usually capitalized) A follower of Plato, a Platonist.

(archaic) A student in a college.

adjective

Belonging to an academy or other higher institution of learning, or a scholarly society or organization.

In particular: relating to literary, classical, or artistic studies like the humanities, rather than to technical or vocational studies like engineering or welding.

Having a love of or aptitude for learning.

Having little practical use or value, as by being overly detailed and unengaging, or by being theoretical and speculative with no practical importance.

So scholarly as to be unaware of the outside world; lacking in worldliness; inexperienced in practical matters.

Belonging to the school or philosophy of Plato.

(art) Conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional; formalistic.

Subscribing to the architectural standards of Vitruvius.

Roots

akademeiaacadem- · Greek · Plato's school

Synonyms for academic

scholarlyadj scholasticadj postgraduateadj collegiateadj graduaten extramuraladj professorialadj pedagogicaladj interscholasticadj pedagogicadj

Synonyms & related words for academic

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of academic — including scholarly, scholastic, postgraduate, collegiate, graduate, extramural. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to academic

Explore words related to academic — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include unacademic, nonacademic, academician, academical, academically, academia, academe, undergraduate. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for academic

Common synonyms for academic include scholarly, scholastic, postgraduate, collegiate, graduate, extramural, professorial, pedagogical — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does academic come from?

The word academic breaks down into one root of Greek origin: the root academ-, from Greek akademeia (“Plato's school”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.