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
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
Koren sat on the editorial boards of numerous publications and held several academic appointments.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026
Anthony Izaguirre, Fortune, 2 Jan. 2026
Quick rise to power Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author.
—Anthony Izaguirre, Chicago Tribune, 1 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
Laura Lyons, interim vice provost for academic excellence at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, called their promotions especially important.
—Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2026
Koren sat on the editorial boards of numerous publications and held several academic appointments.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026
Noun
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author.
—Anthony Izaguirre, Fortune, 2 Jan. 2026
Quick rise to power Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author.
—Anthony Izaguirre, Chicago Tribune, 1 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
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Consider a viable and popular educational use for AI personas.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Promoting the preservation of centuries-old skills that have been passed down for generations—like Al-sadu (geometric embroidering) and Talli (hand-weaving)—the center offers educational workshops and training courses as well as daily artisan showcases.—
Condé Nast Traveler,
Condé Nast Traveler,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Tangible cultural heritage consists of physical elements, like monuments, artifacts, and historic sites, while intangible cultural heritage consists of intellectual elements, like customs, traditions, and languages.—
Kristin Houser,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
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In each place, searching for traces of Katharine Blodgett’s intellectual and personal footprint.—
Natalia Sánchez Loayza,
Scientific American,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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As with every cycle, some schools will benefit more than others from district realignment, but Carter said getting too wrapped up in theoretical scenarios doesn’t serve much purpose.—
Colby Gordon,
Austin American Statesman,
31 Jan. 2026
-
Originally, this was a great mystery, as cosmic rays were known to be composed almost exclusively of protons, and the theoretical limit on a proton that traveled through intergalactic space should forbid such excessively high energies.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
30 Jan. 2026
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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Legal scholars say this framing is intentional.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Jan. 2026
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Take Habermas, whose defense of Israeli ethnic cleansing was protested immediately by such eminent scholars as Adam Tooze and Amia Srinivasan.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The fact that Katherine had been institutionalized may have tainted her scholarly reputation.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
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Brown-Grier argued that this knowledge gap is not just a scholarly problem but a governance one.—
Marybeth Gasman,
Forbes.com,
16 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Golf’s resurgence isn’t being carried by a single superstar or a speculative building boom.—
Steve Skinner,
Sportico.com,
31 Jan. 2026
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For institutions and individuals to look to crypto as anything more than a speculative asset, the technology must have legitimate use cases and outperform existing solutions.—
Matthew Kayser,
Freep.com,
30 Jan. 2026
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
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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 1 Feb. 2026.
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