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
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
Sean Lee, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Its journal was essentially an academic publication, and images were discouraged.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 1 June 2026
Dana Taylor, USA Today, 13 May 2026
This is not the first time Eurovision has found itself in trouble, according to Dean Vuletic, an academic who has written a book about the contest.
—Andrew Jones, NBC news, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
But math was more than an academic pursuit.
—Sean Lee, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
Its journal was essentially an academic publication, and images were discouraged.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 1 June 2026
Noun
David Ellison is not going to call an academic for advice.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 13 May 2026
This is not the first time Eurovision has found itself in trouble, according to Dean Vuletic, an academic who has written a book about the contest.
—Andrew Jones, NBC news, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
-
Check It Out, 2022, consists of an educational program on anger management that plays on a spherical red television set recalling a space helmet.—
Theo Belci,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
-
Programming includes artmaking, cultural dance, educational sessions and more.—
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
Yet as time and intellectual capacity move forward, Angie begins to act more independently.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
29 May 2026
-
Build a culture of intellectual accountability in which employees are expected to interrogate AI output rather than relay it.—
Chris Rosenberg,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
So the question is no longer theoretical.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
30 May 2026
-
Their measurements closely matched theoretical predictions and simulations, validating the core physics behind the approach.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
30 May 2026
Noun
-
Different goals lead to different strategies The differences between industry and academe begin with a divergence in purpose.—
Maysam Ghovanloo,
IEEE Spectrum,
28 May 2026
-
Woke doesn't just characterize academe, academe is from where almost every trope of woke originally came.—
Bradley Gitz,
Arkansas Online,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The facility's revelation came less than two years after North Korea unveiled another covert uranium-enrichment plant in September 2024, in its first public disclosure of such a facility since showing one at the country’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars in 2010.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 June 2026
-
Other speakers include composer and educator Scott Keever, relational coach and writer Jennifer Luciani and scholar and writer Martin Law.—
Hannah Brueske,
Twin Cities,
2 June 2026
Adjective
-
Astrology, a pursuit that hovers in the nebulous space between science and storytelling, is not exactly a robust academic field, and LaFaive had no scholarly studies of Goodman’s life or work to consult.—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
-
Born to a humble family in the twilight years of the shogunate, Higuchi Natsuko (as she was born) was the fourth child and second daughter of a man with scholarly inclinations, who as a farmer had come to the capital to seek both fortune and rank.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
Of course, the speculative, the surreal, the fantastic has always lent itself to intense, often other-wordly experiences of grief and upheaval.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 May 2026
-
Such scandals have put the spotlight on a murky (and growing) world of speculative, 24/7 transactions now filling the internet.—
Wyatte Grantham-Philips,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
Noun
-
Church did not, however, neglect the National Academy, and in 1849—in the midst of bloody riots pitting nativists against immigrants and New York’s working class against the wealthy—he was promoted to full academician status.—
Sebastian Smee,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
The project was led by Xu Jianzhong, PhD, a CAS academician and engineering thermophysics expert.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Academic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/academic. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
