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 theoretic
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
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of academic
Kathryn Lancioni, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Hazony made room to air it out, attending a debate between pro-Israel academic Max Abrahms and skeptical American Conservative editor Curt Mills.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Justin Worland, Time, 17 Oct. 2025
The district also seeks a maintenance and operations budget override of 15% for extracurricular activities, athletic programs, performing visual arts programs, academic rigor, academic interventions, class size and teacher and staff pay.
—Erick Trevino, AZCentral.com, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
Kathryn Lancioni | Founder & CEO at Presenting Perfection | Globally recognized communication expert and Award-winning academic.
—Kathryn Lancioni, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Hazony made room to air it out, attending a debate between pro-Israel academic Max Abrahms and skeptical American Conservative editor Curt Mills.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Noun
But despite the consistent academic interest around the globe, actual implementation of circular solutions has been spotty.
—Justin Worland, Time, 17 Oct. 2025
The district also seeks a maintenance and operations budget override of 15% for extracurricular activities, athletic programs, performing visual arts programs, academic rigor, academic interventions, class size and teacher and staff pay.
—Erick Trevino, AZCentral.com, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
-
And the policies are projected to have far-ranging effects on most areas of business, including a potential loss of hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers in sectors like information and educational and health services.—
Nino Paoli,
Fortune,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Outside, however, the design team was able to take some advantage of the grade change for an educational feature.—
Imani Cruzen,
Twin Cities,
19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Biederman’s against-the-grain distaste for excess capital isn’t just intellectual or financial.—
Allie Garfinkle,
Fortune,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Advertisement The intellectual underpinnings to the circular economy approach have been around for decades.—
Justin Worland,
Time,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Chinese research took a long while to recover from Mao’s purge of academe.—
Shivaram Rajgopal,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2025
-
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
-
Most legal scholars interpret this to mean that the President’s duty is to spend the money Congress appropriates, and that the President does not have the power to withhold funds.—
Andy Kroll,
New Yorker,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Harvard’s Erica Chenoweth, director of the Non-Violent Action Lab and one of the world’s leading scholars of protest movements, has shown that peaceful resistance is twice as likely to succeed as violent resistance.—
Nancy Gibbs,
Time,
17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
Rarely does a 29-page scholarly paper merit the attention of top-level executives, but every business leader should be familiar with a recent study from OpenAI.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Proof in the Numbers The cost savings claims are not theoretical.—
Jon Stojan,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
-
But at the moment, so many of these benefits are theoretical.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
Other founding principals include fellow academicians Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny.—
Charles Rotblut,
Forbes,
18 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Subsequent chapters explore great bookmen of the Renaissance, from the Florentine tradesman Vespasiano da Bisticci and the Flemish illuminator Simon Bening to the English antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton — manuscript obsessives all.—
Bruce Holsinger,
New York Times,
11 Nov. 2023
-
Once asked to describe himself, McMurtry called himself a writer, a screenwriter — and perhaps most significantly, a bookman.—
Thomas Curwen,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Academic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/academic. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share