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.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of academic
Andrea Onate, Footwear News, 30 Mar. 2026
Ketamine, which has long been used as an anesthetic, has drawn growing academic interest in recent years.
—Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 30 Mar. 2026
Stephen Smith, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2026
Rachel Taparjan is a British Romanian filmmaker and academic in North East England, working as a senior lecturer in social work at Teesside University.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 15 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Adjective
Polimoda continues to expand its academic offer, this time with the Milanese cultural institution Fondazione Sozzani.
—Andrea Onate, Footwear News, 30 Mar. 2026
Ketamine, which has long been used as an anesthetic, has drawn growing academic interest in recent years.
—Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 30 Mar. 2026
Noun
Coyle, a 64-year-old academic from Colorado, was taken by force from his Kabul apartment by the Taliban.
—Stephen Smith, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2026
Rachel Taparjan is a British Romanian filmmaker and academic in North East England, working as a senior lecturer in social work at Teesside University.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 15 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
-
Founded by marine life artist Wyland, the foundation empowers people of all ages to become stewards of our planet through hands-on educational programs, public art, and national initiatives like the Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation.—
CBS LA Staff,
CBS News,
31 Mar. 2026
-
These reviews explored links between early birth or low birth weight and outcomes such as intelligence scores, school performance, and the need for additional educational support.—
Lucy Notarantonio,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Amazon built its hiring process around its core Leadership Principles, with interviewers trained to probe for red flags, and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been outspoken about valuing street smarts and intellectual curiosity over pedigree alone.—
Sydney Lake,
Fortune,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Her daughter, Gabs Gonzalez, has an intellectual and developmental disability, or IDD.—
Sarah Horbacewicz,
CBS News,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
That balance is not theoretical.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
28 Mar. 2026
-
If the pair pull it off, the implications could be massive, revealing AI’s potential to convincingly resurrect and reinvent our cinematic history — a potential that before the tech had remained firmly theoretical.—
David Canfield,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Woke doesn't just characterize academe, academe is from where almost every trope of woke originally came.—
Bradley Gitz,
Arkansas Online,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Chinese research took a long while to recover from Mao’s purge of academe.—
Shivaram Rajgopal,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2025
Noun
-
While the 1930s and 1940s did see some instances of carnival poking fun at the tyranny of the Nazi regime (none of which, it should be noted, went unpunished), Birdsall and other scholars maintain that the festival was, first and foremost, an avenue for propaganda.—
Tim Brinkhof,
JSTOR Daily,
1 Apr. 2026
-
But while the Supreme Court has historically been deferential to presidents on immigration issues, defining who is an American by birth is different, according to longtime immigration law scholar Stephen Yale-Loehr.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Land acknowledgments, protest movements, scholarly conversations, the UN themed decade, and the Indigenous Literature category on Lit Hub all speak to that.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Acuña contributed chapters in dozens of anthologies and scholarly texts and wrote numerous book reviews, several children’s books, scholarly articles and opinion pieces in academic journals, magazines, listservs and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.—
Dorany Pineda,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
These aren’t speculative ideas.—
Brian Barlow,
Fortune,
28 Mar. 2026
-
While this move is largely speculative at present, the strategic importance of the Middle East to the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency should not be underestimated, according to Deutsche.—
Joseph Wilkins,
CNBC,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The project was led by Xu Jianzhong, PhD, a CAS academician and engineering thermophysics expert.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Authors call for a worldwide network of government leaders, UN agencies, scientists, academicians and the public, all designed to combat the spread of ultraprocessed foods, prioritizing children.—
Sandee LaMotte,
CNN Money,
18 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Academic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/academic. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
