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
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Recent Examples of academic
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 21 Aug. 2025
In April, prominent American academic Paul Chambers was arrested at his home in northern Thailand, charged with lese majeste and denied bail.
—Helen Regan, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2025
Alice Herman, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025
Soldiers on the academic improvement track have performed slightly better than soldiers in the body fat reduction track.
—Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
People have had public debates about the proper approach to safeguarding health since before modern medicine, but RFK is not a fringe academic or internet poster who can argue to his heart’s content without actually hurting anyone.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 21 Aug. 2025
In April, prominent American academic Paul Chambers was arrested at his home in northern Thailand, charged with lese majeste and denied bail.
—Helen Regan, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2025
Noun
The professor said the influx of student athletes has taken a toll on classroom culture and voiced support for any plan that would preserve the college’s academic programming.
—Alice Herman, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025
Soldiers on the academic improvement track have performed slightly better than soldiers in the body fat reduction track.
—Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
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Schools’ failure to follow IEPs has resulted in disastrous cases of educational neglect for students like Makenley and Maddox O’Connor.—
IndyStar,
IndyStar,
8 Sep. 2025
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The charge could also include community service, probation or educational programs.—
Tiffani Jackson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Another way this week may affect you is in relation to intellectual pursuits, communication projects or contracts.—
Kyle Thomas,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
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D’Annunzio jeers at her delusional belief that Il Duce will fund her dream project of a theater not for the wealthy cultural and intellectual elite, but for the Great War’s widows, orphans and veterans.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Sep. 2025
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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Leading genocide scholars passed a resolution this week that declared Israel’s actions in Gaza had met the legal definition of genocide.—
Jade Walker,
CNN Money,
5 Sep. 2025
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, meanwhile, is referred to by public scholars and media in a variety of ways that emphasize Russia or President Vladimir Putin as an aggressive antagonist.—
Esther Brito Ruiz,
The Conversation,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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As astronomy embraced mathematics and observation during the Scientific Revolution, astrology increasingly lost its scholarly legitimacy and was pushed to the margins.—
Christopher P. Scheitle,
The Conversation,
5 Sep. 2025
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Joshi says teachers also tend to be a vocal crowd that isn’t shy about sharing their scholarly opinions.—
John Kell,
Fortune,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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And many additional ideas in theoretical physics seek to add in additional symmetries, additional dimensions, additional extra particles, or additional unification frameworks.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
9 Sep. 2025
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If not, these elements of Musk’s project are likely to remain more theoretical, just as the dreams of last century’s techno-utopians did.—
Sonja Fritzsche,
The Conversation,
9 Sep. 2025
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
Noun
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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
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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 10 Sep. 2025.
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