Meaning

• (usually capitalized) A follower of Plato, a Platonist.

• 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.

• A member of the Academy; an academician.

• A student in a college.

• Academic dress; academicals.

• Academic studies.

Meaning

• Belonging to the school or philosophy of Plato

  "the academic sect or philosophy"

• Belonging to an academy or other higher institution of learning; also a scholarly society or organization.

• Theoretical or speculative; abstract; scholarly, literary or classical, in distinction to practical or vocational

  "I have always had an academic interest in hacking."

• Having little practical use or value, as by being overly detailed, unengaging, or theoretical: having no practical importance.

• 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."

• Conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional; formalistic.

• So scholarly as to be unaware of the outside world; lacking in worldliness.

• Subscribing to the architectural standards of Vitruvius.

• Study of humanities topics rather than science and engineering.