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
Monica Martinez, Boston Herald, 15 Feb. 2025
Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, field of study and financial need, college officials said in a news release.
—Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 14 Feb. 2025
Simon Perry, People.com, 11 Feb. 2025
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, were killed by the Pakistani military and affiliated militias, including many students and academics.
—Bymartin Enserink, science.org, 6 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for academic 
Adjective
In a country where student loan debt has ballooned to a staggering $1.64 trillion and continues to rise — despite billions of dollars in federal loan forgiveness — students must recognize the long-term financial consequences of their academic choices.
—Monica Martinez, Boston Herald, 15 Feb. 2025
Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, field of study and financial need, college officials said in a news release.
—Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 14 Feb. 2025
Noun
Called The Shaping Us Framework, it was produced her Centre for Early Childhood and authored by a coalition of academics, clinicians and practitioners in human development from around the U.K. and the world.
—Simon Perry, People.com, 11 Feb. 2025
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, were killed by the Pakistani military and affiliated militias, including many students and academics.
—Bymartin Enserink, science.org, 6 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for academic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for academic
Adjective
-
Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.—
Kristan Hawkins,
Newsweek,
6 Feb. 2025
-
Randy Jones Run/Walk supports folks with disabilities Home of Guiding Hands, a nonprofit that helps community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will host its 15th Annual Randy Jones Run, Walk & Roll for Independence starting at 8 a.m. Feb. 8 at De Anza Cove in Mission Bay.—
Ut Community Press,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Feb. 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
-
Typically, such studies are led by a prominent person of national distinction or a renowned scholar, and are carried out by a panel of national experts from academia, industry, the public sector and nongovernmental organizations.—
Yaakov Katz,
Newsweek,
7 Feb. 2025
-
This month, that work is being celebrated by the Association for the Study of African American Life & History, the advocacy organization founded by the father of Black History Month, scholar Carter G. Woodson.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA TODAY,
7 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Both winners will be announced at the FICA ceremony, establishing a new platform for recognizing both creative and scholarly contributions to regional cinema.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
31 Jan. 2025
-
About 119,000 scholarly journal articles and conference papers are published globally every week, or more than 6 million a year.—
Guillaume Cabanac,
The Conversation,
29 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
This type of cosmic phenomenon is named after the famous theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, whose theory of general relativity proposed that objects with mass distort the fabric of spacetime—making such 'gravitational lensing' effects possible.—
Justin Gest,
Newsweek,
11 Feb. 2025
-
Elsie supplements her work as an adjunct professor in theoretical physics by offering up herself as a fake girlfriend.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA TODAY,
4 Feb. 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 21 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share