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 of scholar

• 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

Emerging studies on leading AI models that have been specially trained by scholars to act as virtual Commanders-in-Chief, armed with massive arsenals of atomic arms, have been alarming. — Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026

One day scholars will teach Lepore’s work alongside Arendt’s, seeing that Lepore interrogates not simply a modern moment, but traces our current machine age back to the 17th-century conceit for artifice as improvement. — Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026

According to scholars, Sicily was a location for Odysseus’ wanderings in the epic composed by Homer around 8th century BCE. — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 31 July 2026

Matt was a youth team scholar at Brentford, but never recovered from an ankle injury sustained in his first month there. — Katie Whyatt, New York Times, 31 July 2026

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
• choler
• collar
• crawler
• dollar
• faller
• haller
• hauler
• holler
• smaller
• squalor
• taller

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