scholar

noun

schol·​ar ˈskä-lər 

1

: a person who attends a school or studies under a teacher : pupil

2

a

: a person who has done advanced study in a special field

b

: a learned person

3

: a holder of a scholarship

Synonyms

• teacher
• sage
• pundit
• savant
• wizard

Examples of scholar in a Sentence

She's a renowned scholar of African-American history.

scholars have long debated whether there is ever such a thing as a truly selfless act

Recent Examples on the Web

One of the book’s goals was to help create a point of reference that future scholars can build on, challenge, or revise. —Tim Brinkhof, JSTOR Daily, 8 Oct. 2025

To meet those targets, especially when market conditions or interest rates made organic growth more difficult, managers were more inclined to take on additional risk that promised higher yields, the scholars argue. —Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2025

As scholars have suggested, positive, prosocial uses of generative AI on social media could include mediation, information assistance, counterspeech, and moderation of discourse among users. —John Wihbey, Big Think, 7 Oct. 2025

Despite continual risk to the library’s existence, scholars from across the world still travel there to conduct research. —Ryan Byrnes, Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English scoler, from Old English scolere & Anglo-French escoler, from Medieval Latin scholaris, from Late Latin, of a school, from Latin schola school

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing scholar

• Rhodes scholar

Rhymes for scholar

• caller
• collar
• crawler
• dollar
• faller
• haller
• hauler
• holler
• smaller
• squalor
• taller
• trawler

Kids Definition

scholar

noun

schol·​ar ˈskäl-ər 

1

: a person who attends a school or studies under a teacher : pupil

2

a

: a person who has done advanced study in a special area

b

: a learned person

3

: a holder of a scholarship

scholarly adjective