academic Hear it!

academic definition

aca·demic (ak′ə dem′ik)

adjective

  1. of colleges, universities, etc.; scholastic; scholarly
  2. having to do with general or liberal rather than technical or vocational education
  3. of or belonging to an academy of scholars, artists, etc.
  4. following fixed rules or conventions; pedantic or formalistic an academic style of painting
  5. merely theoretical; having no direct practical application an academic question
Also academical ac′a·dem′i·cal (-i kəl)

Etymology: L academicus < academia: see academy

noun

a teacher or student at a college or university

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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