Definition of "academic" []

• Of, relating to, or characteristic of a school, especially one of higher learning. (adjective)
• Relating to studies that are liberal or classical rather than technical or vocational. (adjective)
• Relating to scholarly performance: a student's academic average. (adjective)
• Of or belonging to a scholarly organization. (adjective)
• Scholarly to the point of being unaware of the outside world. See Synonyms at pedantic. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "By consistently quoting the term "academic" in their legislation, the representatives are attempting to legitimate the teaching of the Bible as safely impartial and nonsectarian."
• "The legislation from Arkansas, known as House Bill 1032, employs the phrase "academic study of the Bible" throughout, stating that the course would be "nonsectarian, nonreligious" and purely an unbiased study of the Bible and its influence on other disciplines."
• "BALLOU: Well, I have to tell you, initially Doug Garrison gave me support under the label academic freedom."