academic

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌæk.əˈdem.ɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French académique,^[2][3][4] and directly from Latin Acadēmicus (“of the school of Plato”),^[5][2] from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημαϊκός (Akadēmaïkós),^[2] from Acadēmīa, the place where Plato taught,^[5][3] the source of academy.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a philosopher of Plato's Academy: 1586 in the OED, the mid-16th century in SOED.^[6][4] As an adjective, of an academy or institution of higher learning: about 1588 in the OED, the 1580s in Etymonline.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

A member of a college or university is from 1587,^[6] at first a student,^[5] now especially a senior member or a scholar.^[6][4] Belonging to Plato's Academy, and so sceptical, is from 1610.^[6][5] The meaning “theoretical, not practical, not leading to a decision”, as of university debates or legal exercises in class, is by 1886,^[5][6] and in the arts “conforming too rigidly to the rules of an academy” from 1889.^[5][6] Academic freedom is from 1901.^[5][6] Johnson had academical and academician.^[5]

Timeline

• 1586 – noun, a Platonist.^[6]
• 1587 – a member of a university.^[6]
• c. 1588 – of an academy.^[6]
• 1610 – of Plato's Academy, sceptical.^[6]
• 1886 – theoretical, not practical.^[5][6]
• 1889 – conventional in art.^[5][6]
• 1901 – academic freedom.^[5][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or relating to a school, especially one of higher learning, or to scholarly work.
2. Relating to liberal or classical studies rather than technical or vocational ones.
3. Theoretical or speculative, with no practical importance: an academic question.
4. Conforming to the rules of an academy; conventional.

Noun

1. A member of a university or college, especially a teacher or researcher.
2. A person with a scholarly outlook or background.

Word family

• academically
• quasi-academic
• Academicism
• academicize
• interacademic
• pseudoacademic
• subacademic
• unacademic

Related words

• academia
• academical
• academism
• academy
• academician

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press