noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The doctrines of Plato's academy; specifically the skeptical doctrines of the later academy stating that nothing can be known; a tenet of the Academic philosophy; state of being Academic. capitalized, countable, sometimes, uncountable
2. 2
   The doctrines of Plato's academy; specifically the skeptical doctrines of the later academy stating that nothing can be known; a tenet of the Academic philosophy; state of being Academic. capitalized, sometimes
3. 3
   orthodoxy of a scholastic variety wordnet
4. 4
   Traditional or orthodox formalism; conventionalism. countable, uncountable
5. 5
   Purely speculative thoughts and attitudes. wordnet

Show 3 more definitions

6. 6
   Speculative thoughts and attitudes. countable, uncountable
7. 7
   a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. wordnet
8. 8
   A mannerism or mode peculiar to an academy. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

academic artacademismscholasticismscholasticism

Etymology

From academic + -ism.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.