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.
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Recent Examples of academic
Erin Qualey, Vulture, 23 Mar. 2026
The award also honors schools across the state that are accelerating academic progress for two or more groups that have been historically underserved.
—Anne Gelhaus, Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2026
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 4 Mar. 2026
Building a life Whether as a runner or an academic, Sarah has spent her life in training.
—Gerald Witt, AJC.com, 1 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
Back in the classroom, Greg is trying his best to put his lack of academic experience aside and focus on actually teaching.
—Erin Qualey, Vulture, 23 Mar. 2026
The award also honors schools across the state that are accelerating academic progress for two or more groups that have been historically underserved.
—Anne Gelhaus, Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2026
Noun
Advertisement Gyllenhaal’s debut picture, 2021’s Elena Ferrante adaptation The Lost Daughter—with Olivia Colman as a prickly academic on holiday, played, in her younger incarnation, by Buckley—was similarly ambitious, but its urgent, freewheeling sense of discovery worked in its favor.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 4 Mar. 2026
Building a life Whether as a runner or an academic, Sarah has spent her life in training.
—Gerald Witt, AJC.com, 1 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
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The information provided is for educational purposes and should not be construed as financial, investment or trading advice.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
23 Mar. 2026
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Additional groups worth supporting include the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust and the Chicago Architecture Center, both of which depend on community engagement to sustain their educational and preservation missions.—
Jennifer N. Pritzker,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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What does this mean for the future of a key American intellectual tradition?—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
20 Mar. 2026
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The product of two lovely, supportive and intellectual Jewish parents, Peaches is the youngest of three.—
Katherine Turman,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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For Jewish leaders, the threat is no longer theoretical.—
Samantha-Jo Roth,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Mar. 2026
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Where previous editions treated AI with theoretical enthusiasm, this year’s market found practitioners speaking in more practical, and sometimes cautious, terms.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
21 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Woke doesn't just characterize academe, academe is from where almost every trope of woke originally came.—
Bradley Gitz,
Arkansas Online,
26 Jan. 2026
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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
Noun
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Predictive text leads to predictive writing As many scholars have noted, though, this vision of writing was never fully accurate.—
Gayle Rogers,
The Conversation,
17 Mar. 2026
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Sam Winter-Levy is a fellow at the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where Anton Leicht is a visiting scholar.—
Wendy R. Anderson,
Washington Post,
17 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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One scholarly paper found that the typical retiree who claims before 70 loses $182,370 in potential Social Security income.—
Daniel de Visé,
USA Today,
15 Mar. 2026
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Leslie Hairston, a former City Council colleague of Preckwinkle’s whose South Side ward abutted hers, said Preckwinkle’s scholarly disposition shouldn’t be mistaken for indifference.—
A.D. Quig,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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After the overnight speculative panic from a fortnight ago that shot oil prices across the board to nearly $120 per barrel in the early premarket trading hours of March 9, oil prices quickly settled back down to $100.—
Tiana Lowe Doescher,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
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Importantly, the $1 trillion figure appears to be a revenue floor, not a wildly speculative outlook from management.—
Zev Fima,
CNBC,
17 Mar. 2026
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 25 Mar. 2026.
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