variants
also academical
1
as in educational
of or relating to schooling or learning especially at an advanced level
"If you spent more time in academic pursuits and less time in social ones, you could easily make good grades," the dean told Valerie
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in intellectual
very learned or educated but inexperienced in practical matters
academic thinkers who have no understanding of realpolitik
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in theoretical
existing only as an assumption or speculation
your arguments are merely academic—such a worst-case scenario is unlikely to ever occur
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in academe
Related Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of academic
Josh Dinner, Space.com, 31 Oct. 2025
This can include poor academic and cognitive function as well as greater behavioral problems, Burghardt said.
—Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 30 Oct. 2025
JSTOR Daily, 25 Oct. 2025
And Hoss takes on Hedda‘s ex-lover, which DaCosta turned from brilliant, self-destructive academic Eilert Lövborg into brilliant, self-destructive academic Eileen Lövborg.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
And so this piece of our mission, which was to be integrated into the academic community — we've been cut off at our knees.
—Josh Dinner, Space.com, 31 Oct. 2025
This can include poor academic and cognitive function as well as greater behavioral problems, Burghardt said.
—Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 30 Oct. 2025
Noun
In the five years just before war set in, these were among the dwellings that had beguiled Heinz Gaube (1940–2022), a German academic at the Oriental Seminar of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.
—JSTOR Daily, 25 Oct. 2025
And Hoss takes on Hedda‘s ex-lover, which DaCosta turned from brilliant, self-destructive academic Eilert Lövborg into brilliant, self-destructive academic Eileen Lövborg.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
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Widespread expectations that women will prioritize housework and childcare also diminish young women's educational prospects, motivating them to leave rural areas.—
Anthony Kuhn,
NPR,
3 Nov. 2025
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The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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The petulant, back-stabby intrigue between various parties here sometimes makes the hero rather unsympathetic, with photogenic singer-actor Pena Hernandez’s puppyish turn not conveying a great deal of complexity, let alone artistic o intellectual potential.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
31 Oct. 2025
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His portrayal of a pompous, yapping intellectual who's rotten to the core rings uncomfortably true, as do the performances of Thatcher and East as their characters nonverbally communicate their discomfort to each other.—
Dennis Perkins,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The results offer crucial confirmation for theoretical models about how magnetic turbulence carries and dissipates energy in the sun's upper atmosphere, Morton added.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
4 Nov. 2025
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This is not a theoretical concern.—
David Miliband,
Time,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Chinese research took a long while to recover from Mao’s purge of academe.—
Shivaram Rajgopal,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2025
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His ideas have particularly struck a chord with readers who deal in aesthetics—artists, curators, designers, and architects—even though Han has not quite been embraced by philosophy academe.—
Kyle Chayka,
The New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2024
Noun
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Amenabar seems to root his screenplay on conjectures about the writer’s sexuality, which many scholars consider latterday projection.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
31 Oct. 2025
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Some scholars suggested Trump may be referring to testing weapons delivery systems, not the warheads themselves.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The study, published on the open-access scholarly article archive, arxiv, has not yet been peer-reviewed.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
22 Oct. 2025
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Check back on the second Monday of every month for a new puzzle built on clues connected to scholarly articles available via JSTOR.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Below are the three most salient lessons from the depths of the speculative fiction trenches.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Nov. 2025
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Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s chief investment officer, Lisa Shalett, issued a note to clients yesterday arguing that now may be the time to sell speculative tech stocks.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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There’s little scaffolding or bridging, virtually no space given to centralized agencies, which most development academicians would agree still have their place.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
25 Apr. 2025
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Other founding principals include fellow academicians Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny.—
Charles Rotblut,
Forbes,
18 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Academic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/academic. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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