academic: Meaning and Definition of

ac•a•dem•ic

1. of or pertaining to a college, academy, school, or other educational institution, esp. one for higher education: academic requirements.
2. pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics.
3. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful: an academic question; an academic discussion of a matter already decided.
4. learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, common sense, or practicality.
5. conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional: academic painting.
6. acquired by formal education, esp. at a college or university: academic preparation for the ministry.
7. (cap.) of or pertaining to Academe or to the Platonic school of philosophy.

1. a student or teacher at a college or university.
2. a person who is academic in background, attitudes, methods, etc.: He was by temperament an academic, concerned with books and the arts.
3. (cap.) a person who supports or advocates the Platonic school of philosophy.
4. the scholarly activities of a school or university, as classroom studies or research projects: more emphasis on academics and less on athletics.