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

Legal scholars say that simply seeing or ignoring a confession online is not, by itself, a crime. —Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 17 Sep. 2025

Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars – the world’s largest body of genocide scholars – said that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. —Catherine Nicholls, CNN Money, 16 Sep. 2025

Since its founding in 2017, the PAUSE program has provided visas and institutional support to hundreds of at-risk scholars and artists from conflict zones around the world, including Palestine. —Dan Sheehan, Literary Hub, 16 Sep. 2025

Why Scientists Struggle to Start Anew Why does Schmidt Sciences honor — and fund — scholars in this way? —John Drake, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 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