academia
nounUK /ˌæk.əˈdiː.mɪ.ə/ · US /ˌæk.əˈdi.mi.ə/
Etymology Borrowed from New Latin acadēmīa, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attica hero Akademos. Doublet of academe, academy, and Akademeia. Modern sense of “the world of universities and scholarship” recorded from 1956.
1
Collective The scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole.
- Academia continues to provide scientific education, despite attempts to turn it into a system of professional schooling.
- Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020:
2
Continuous study at higher education institutions; scholarship.
- Not every university graduate wishes to pursue academia.
- Derived terms
- academentia, academian, dark academia, light academia
- Related terms
- academe, academic, academical, academically, academician, academics, Academy, academy, Akademeia