• IPA: /ˌækəˈdɛmɪk/

academic

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

   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]
   • academic courses - William Warburton
   • academical study - George Berkeley
3. Theoretical or speculative; abstract; scholarly, literary or classical, in distinction to practical or vocational [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.
   • 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]
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.

• French: académique
• Portuguese: platónico (Portugal), platônico (Brazil)

• French: académique, universitaire
• German: akademisch
• Italian: accademico
• Portuguese: académico (Portugal), acadêmico (Brazil)
• Russian: академи́ческий
• Spanish: académico

• German: akademisch
• Italian: accademico

• German: intellektuell

academic (plural academics)

1. (usually, capitalized) A follower of Plato, a Platonist. [First attested in the mid 16th century.]
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.]
3. A member of the Academy; an academician. [First attested in the mid 18th century.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 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. (pluralonly) Academic dress; academicals. [First attested in the early 19th century.]
6. (pluralonly) Academic studies. [First attested in the late 20th century.]

• Portuguese: académico (Portugal), acadêmico (Brazil)

• French: universitaire
• Portuguese: académico (Portugal), acadêmico (Brazil)
• Spanish: académico, escolar

• Portuguese: académico (Portugal), acadêmico (Brazil)