erudite
adjective
ˈer-yə-
Did you know?
Erudite derives from Latin eruditus, the past participle of the verb erudire, meaning "to instruct." A closer look at that verb shows that it is formed by combining the prefix e-, meaning "missing" or "absent," with the adjective rudis, which means "rude" or "ignorant." (Rudis is also the source of the English word rude.) We typically use rude to mean "discourteous" or "uncouth" but it can also mean "lacking refinement" or "uncivilized." Taking these meanings into account, erudite stays true to its etymology: someone who is erudite has been transformed from a roughened or uninformed state to a polished and knowledgeable one through a devotion to learning.
Examples of erudite in a Sentence
Susan Sontag, New Yorker, 18 & 25 June 2001
… an engaging fellow: erudite, entertaining, intolerant of trendiness and fearlessly old-fashioned. … He can turn a nice phrase, too.
—Mordecai Richler, Wall Street Journal, 2 May 1995
He was well read, especially in the works of Kipling, a field in which Violet could give him a game, and from time to time they would exchange erudite letters about Kipling characters.
—Anthony Powell, The Strangers All are Gone, 1982
the most erudite people in medical research attended the conference
an erudite lecture on the latest discoveries in astronomy
Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 19 June 2025
Her transcripts of their conversations can read like early drafts of movie dialogue between two erudite thinkers, untangling the convoluted knots of difficult family histories.
—Evelyn McDonnell 5, Literary Hub, 5 June 2025
Dissatisfied with the quality of the day’s commercial recordings, Paul, who’d worked with pop stars including Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, and was a guitar virtuoso and bandleader, endeavored to push the practice forward — to make recording a kind of erudite art form.
—Erin Osmon, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2025
As Eric Storm shows in his impressive and erudite Nationalism: A World History, nationalism has singularly shaped the modern world.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for erudite
Cite this Entry
“Erudite.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/erudite. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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