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
Synonyms & Similar 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
Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2025
Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, an academic power couple who run a lab at Cornell University, had been searching for superconductivity in TMDs since Jarillo-Herrero’s blockbuster twisted-graphene discovery in 2018.
—Charlie Wood, WIRED, 12 Jan. 2025
Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025
Eric Drott, an academic whose Streaming Music, Streaming Capital Pelly cites elsewhere, also writes about the widespread use of bots, click farms, spam, and soundalikes.
—Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for academic 
Adjective
In the contemporary world, the Divine Nine boasts diverse growth and development programs, serving their respective communities through camaraderie, academic excellence, and educational, cultural, and economic activities.
—Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2025
Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, an academic power couple who run a lab at Cornell University, had been searching for superconductivity in TMDs since Jarillo-Herrero’s blockbuster twisted-graphene discovery in 2018.
—Charlie Wood, WIRED, 12 Jan. 2025
Noun
Indeed, because schools are often as large and complex as small cities — involving housing, meals, social services, recreation, in addition to academics — the breadth and range of positions available here is vast.
—Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025
Eric Drott, an academic whose Streaming Music, Streaming Capital Pelly cites elsewhere, also writes about the widespread use of bots, click farms, spam, and soundalikes.
—Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
-
It’s been largely overlooked, but the Palisades has its own rich intellectual history.—
Peter Kiefer,
The Hollywood Reporter,
31 Jan. 2025
-
The ribbon-cutting for a new Libertyville facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities highlights the need for such services in a state with thousands of people stuck on a waitlist.—
Joseph States,
Chicago Tribune,
31 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
That points to a missed opportunity, because even a little self-reflection would reveal much in 21st-century academe that will one day look as repellent as the earlier bias against Jews.—
The Editorial Board,
WSJ,
13 Oct. 2022
Noun
-
Most presidents have tried the same thing Historically, most presidents and their advisers – and indeed most scholars – have agreed that government bureaucracy is not designed in ways that promote efficiency.—
Jennifer Selin,
The Conversation,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Although a sharp debate broke out among scholars, and the courts soon got involved, the program, in its essence, survived the controversy.—
Stephen L. Carter,
The Mercury News,
23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Hudson’s bandmates—the guitarist Robbie Robertson, the drummer Levon Helm, the bassist Rick Danko, and the pianist and multi-instrumentalist Richard Manuel—often described him as scholarly, nimble, and discerning, a professor type at loose in a scene dominated by beautiful buffoons.—
Amanda Petrusich,
The New Yorker,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Laymon said the suffrage monument on the Mall will draw on the diverse perspectives of its board and scholarly advisers, as well as the public.—
Jennifer Schuessler,
New York Times,
20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
For the past two years the setting has been 90 seconds to midnight, with midnight meaning the theoretical annihilation of humanity, by design or by mistake.—
Elizabeth Weise,
USA TODAY,
28 Jan. 2025
-
Last year, in a study (opens a new tab) that was presented at the Foundations of Computer Science conference in Chicago, a team of seven researchers described a way to organize items that comes tantalizingly close to the theoretical ideal.—
Steve Nadis,
Quanta Magazine,
24 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Other founding principals include fellow academicians Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny.—
Charles Rotblut,
Forbes,
18 Dec. 2024
-
That committee was the brainchild of two men, William Rusher, the publisher of National Review, and his longtime collaborator, F. Clifton White, a lapsed and low-keyed academician from upstate New York.—
Neal B. Freeman,
National Review,
9 July 2024
Noun
-
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
-
In the 1970s and ’80s, a flamboyant Texas bookman and one-time president of the ABAA named John Jenkins made money selling stolen and forged items to libraries and collectors.—
Travis McDade,
Smithsonian Magazine,
18 Aug. 2020
Adjective
-
This perhaps comes through most clearly in the film’s surprisingly considerate treatment of religion, especially in a scholastic environment.—
Ryan Swen,
Variety,
25 Jan. 2025
-
Here is an important one: Were the poll respondents made aware of the actual number of transgender students participating in scholastic sports relative to the overall number of students participating in those programs, based upon either local, state, or national statistics?—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
9 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near academic
Cite this Entry
“Academic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/academic. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share