polymaths

noun

plural of polymath
as in geniuses
formal someone who knows a lot about many different things She is rightly regarded as something of a polymath in her extensive knowledge of all the earth sciences.

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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 polymaths Leonardo was one of history’s greatest polymaths, filling notebooks with designs across a range of disciplines, including flying machines that wouldn't be realized for centuries. — ABC News, 9 June 2026 Private Money, Public Breakthroughs To call Saad Bhamla and his seven co-recipients polymaths is more than flattery. — John Drake, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for polymaths
  1. geniuses
  2. virtuosos
  3. wizards
  4. thinkers
  5. intellects
  6. intellectuals
  7. sages
Noun
  • Broadly speaking, these kinds of stories — powered by a stop-them-before-they-kill-again clock, making their antagonists out to be finicky geniuses or horror movie monsters instead of opportunistic mediocrities — strike me as a low form of fiction.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2026
  • To get around this, as Anne Hathaway so eloquently explains, the IMAX tech geniuses placed mirrors onto the sides of the cameras, so the actors could see each other and maintain a natural acting flow — ingenious stuff.
    — Benny Har-Even, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026
Definition of geniuses
Noun
  • Other guitar virtuosos might crave at least a little downtime between concluding a Las Vegas concert residency with one band and launching a national tour with another band, not but Joe Satriani.
    — George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Suffused with dread and bathed in reverb, the record captures two virtuosos at their most vulnerable.
    — Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 23 Jan. 2026
Definition of virtuosos
Noun
  • Food and drink Chefs Loice Acom and Gad Hafashimana are wizards in the Kibale Lodge kitchen.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 July 2026
  • Balloons float above an exploding castle, a giant peeks from behind the bushes and wizards throw flames in the foreground.
    — Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 July 2026
Definition of wizards
Noun
  • Kashmir’s Shaiva Hindu thinkers produced some of South Asia’s most influential texts on consciousness.
    — Peter Dziedzic, The Conversation, 30 July 2026
  • The Sparks need to not hire college wonders — no Cori Close — and enlist some good old-fashioned WNBA veteran thinkers and evaluators and leaders.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2026
Definition of thinkers
Noun
  • Women are compelled to suppress their desires, intellects, and emotions in Gilead.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026
  • While the likes of Philo and Trotter have expanded upon the idea by prioritizing people whose intellects align with their brand values, Jacquemus takes it to another level.
    — Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 23 Jan. 2026
Definition of intellects
Noun
  • This tradition of forceful anti-American sentiment among European intellectuals went into steep decline after the abrupt end of the Cold War in the late Eighties.
    — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 28 July 2026
  • Katherine Kelaidis argues that figures such as Heather Cox Richardson, Jill Lepore, Joanne Freeman, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kevin Kruse have become a new class of liberal public intellectuals, translating the past into political commentary.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
Definition of intellectuals
Noun
  • Black sages have shown that Black rage will not be silenced; rather, it is directed toward creative expression.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 July 2026
  • Unlike the majority of the Mishnah—the codification of the Jewish Oral Law—Pirkei Avot has very little Halakhic content and instead emphasizes general ethical matters conveyed through aphorisms attributed to ancient rabbinic sages.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 July 2026
Definition of sages

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Cite this Entry

“Polymaths.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polymaths. Accessed 4 Aug. 2026.

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