academic 1 of 2

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

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2
as in intellectual
very learned or educated but inexperienced in practical matters academic thinkers who have no understanding of realpolitik

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3

academic

2 of 2

noun

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
Adjective
All academics in some form or fashion, the group swapped ideas at the intersection of their research: causal machine learning, reinforcement learning, and AI agents. Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 18 June 2025 At the trial, Young noted that much of the information about the grant cancellations was only available due to the independent efforts of academics behind a project called Grant Watch, which was launched to crowdsource the monumental task of tracking the cuts. ArsTechnica, 17 June 2025
Noun
The group was looking at one of the campus academic buildings, Pamplin Hall, while standing on a utility grate. Charna Flam, People.com, 27 June 2025 For now, much of the work in quantum is still fairly academic. Kif Leswing, CNBC, 27 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
  • On the pages of National Review and, after 1966, on Firing Line, Buckley pioneered the do-your-own-research rhetorical style: whataboutism and verbal misdirections that often slipped into intellectual nihilism.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2025
  • Her wide-ranging symphony of essays on Black womanhood is a treat—incisive, intellectual, intimate, funny, and formally inventive.
    Gabrielle Bellot, Literary Hub, 24 June 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
  • The paper was published last month by a team of computer scientists and legal scholars from Stanford, Cornell, and West Virginia University.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 20 June 2025
  • But some, including legal scholars from New York University’s Brennan Center, have argued a potential loophole exists unless Congress bans using the National Guard to enforce the law in other states without gubernatorial consent.
    Davis Winkie, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Adjective
  • The Schomburg Center has long been the heart of Harlem’s ongoing Renaissance—from the 1920s until the present moment —the neighborhood teems with an energy of artistic and scholarly abundance that, in turn, shapes political and cultural discourse not just in New York City but across the country.
    Essence, Essence, 19 June 2025
  • Much of the design was informed by a 25-page scholarly paper on how to govern such a city, written by a professor of sociology specifically for the show.
    Brande Victorian, HollywoodReporter, 17 June 2025
Adjective
  • These frameworks are not theoretical, as they are based on real-world leadership challenges and offer actionable tools leaders can apply immediately.
    Tony Gambill, Forbes.com, 24 June 2025
  • The Athletic's Jim Bowden recently outlined a theoretical deal in which the Cardinals would trade Helsley, Arenado, and cash to the Detroit Tigers to land superstar prospect Kevin McGonigle.
    Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 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
  • In the 1970s and ’80s, a flamboyant Texas bookman and one-time president of the ABAA named John Jenkins made money selling stolen and forged items to libraries and collectors.
    Travis McDade, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Aug. 2020
Adjective
  • Quinta Brunson’s scholastic sitcom has been renewed for Season 5 at ABC.
    Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 21 Jan. 2025
  • Thurmond and Newsom praised Clinton Elementary School and Compton Unified School District officials for their students’ scholastic achievements.
    Dave Mason, The Washington Examiner, 6 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Academic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/academic. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.

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