academic

• academick (obsolete)
• acad, acad. (abbreviation)
• Academic

From both the Medieval Latin acadēmicus and the French académique, from Latin academia, from Ancient Greek ἀκαδημικός (akadēmikós), from Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía) or Ἀκαδήμεια (Akadḗmeia), the name of the place where Plato taught; compare academy.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˌækəˈdɛmɪk/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛmɪk

academic (comparative more academic, superlative most academic)

1. Belonging to the school or philosophy of Plato [from late 16th century][2]

   the academic sect or philosophy

2. Belonging to an academy or other higher institution of learning; also a scholarly society or organization. [from late 16th century][2]
   • academic courses - William Warburton
   • academical study - George Berkeley
3. Theoretical or speculative; abstract; scholarly, literary or classical, in distinction to practical or vocational[2] [from late 19th century]

   I have always had an academic interest in hacking.

4. Having little practical use or value, as by being overly detailed, unengaging, or theoretical: having no practical importance.
   • 2011 May 16, “Pakistan's AQ Khan: My Nuclear Manifesto”, in Newsweek:

     The question of how many weapons are required for credible deterrence against India is purely academic.

   • 2017 November 10, “Land Rover Discovery review – SUV's the finest car in the Landy”, in Scottish Daily Record:

     For the majority of owners, its four-wheel-drive endeavours will be of purely academic interest.

   • 2018, US Government Accountability Office, "Decision, Matter of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation", May 22, 2018

     As a general matter, we will not consider a protest where the issue presented has no practical consequences with regard to an existing federal government procurement, and thus is of purely academic interest.

5. Having a love of or aptitude for learning.

   I'm more academic than athletic — I get lower marks in phys. ed. than in anything else.

6. (art) Conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional; formalistic. [from late 19th century][2]
7. So scholarly as to be unaware of the outside world; lacking in worldliness.
8. Subscribing to the architectural standards of Vitruvius.
9. Study of humanities topics rather than science and engineering.

academic (plural academics)

1. (usually capitalized) A follower of Plato, a Platonist. [First attested in the mid 16th century.][2]
2. A senior member of an academy, college, or university; a person who attends an academy; a person engaged in scholarly pursuits; one who is academic in practice. [First attested in the late 16th century.][2]
   • 2013 September 7, “The multiplexed metropolis”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:

     Academics […] see integrated systems for collecting, processing and acting on data as offering a “second electrification” to the world’s metropolises.

3. A member of the Academy; an academician. [First attested in the mid 18th century.][2]
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition II, section 4, member 2, subsection ii:

     Carneades the academick, when he was to write against Zeno the stoick, purged himself with hellebor first […].

4. (archaic) A student in a college.
5. (plural only) Academic dress; academicals. [First attested in the early 19th century.][2]
6. (plural only) Academic studies. [First attested in the late 20th century.][2]

• scientific

• academic at OneLook Dictionary Search
• academic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• academic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

academic

1. academic

• IPA^(key): /a.kaˈde.mik/

academic m or n (feminine singular academică, masculine plural academici, feminine and neuter plural academice)

1. academic