Synonyms of erudition

erudition

noun

ˌer-ə-ˈdi-shən 

as in knowledge

the understanding and information gained from being educated

a scientist of impressive erudition but with a down-to-earth manner

Synonyms & Similar Words

• knowledge
• literacy
• scholarship
• education
• learning
• learnedness
• culture
• enlightenment
• edification
• reading
• pedantry
• bookishness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignorance
• illiteracy
• illiterateness
• functional illiteracy

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun erudition differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of erudition are knowledge, learning, and scholarship. While all these words mean "what is or can be known by an individual or by humankind," erudition strongly implies the acquiring of profound, recondite, or bookish learning.

an erudition unusual even in a scholar

When might knowledge be a better fit than erudition?

While the synonyms knowledge and erudition are close in meaning, knowledge applies to facts or ideas acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience.

rich in the knowledge of human nature

When can learning be used instead of erudition?

The meanings of learning and erudition largely overlap; however, learning applies to knowledge acquired especially through formal, often advanced, schooling.

a book that demonstrates vast learning

When could scholarship be used to replace erudition?

In some situations, the words scholarship and erudition are roughly equivalent. However, scholarship implies the possession of learning characteristic of the advanced scholar in a specialized field of study or investigation.

a work of first-rate literary scholarship

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of erudition

Not everyone’s complexity gets celebrated in its time as erudition. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Jan. 2025

Horowitz’s erudition, combined with his energy, is a powerful sales tool. —Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024

Esther Feit, Delray Beach Silencing knowledge The Trump administration’s war on literacy and erudition opens a sad chapter on the inverse and hostile relationship between knowledge and power. —Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2025

By then, the only two Italian women who had received a degree as recognition for their erudition were Piscopia at the University of Padua in 1678, and Laura Bassi at the University of Bologna in 1732. —Manuela Callari, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025