Learned
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /lÉœËnd/ verb
- GenAm IPA: /lÉËnd/ verb
- RP IPA: /ˈlÉœËn.É›d/ adjective
Origin 1
From Middle English lerned, from Old English læran ("to teach")
Full definition of learned
Adjective
learned
- Having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iii:the learned Merlin, well could tell,
Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell .... - 1854, Charles Edward Pollock, Lake v. Plaxton, 156 Eng. Rep. 412 (Exch.) 414; 10 Ex. 199, 200 (Eng.)My learned Brother Cresswell directed the jury to make the calculation ....
- 2011 , Jess Lourey , A Pyramid Approach to Novel Writing , The book opens with the Time Traveler dining with learned peers in late 1800s England, where he is trying to convince them that he has invented a time machine.
- 2011 , Jill Lepore , How Longfellow Woke the Dead , HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW used to be both the best-known poet in the English-speaking world and the most beloved, adored by the learned and the lowly ...
- My learned friend (a formal, courteous description of a lawyer)
Alternative forms
Usage notes
This adjectival sense of this word is sometimes spelled with a grave accent. This is meant to indicate that the second ‘e’ is pronounced as or , rather than being silent, as in the verb form. This usage is largely restricted to poetry and other works in which it is important that the adjective’s disyllabicity be made explicit.
Synonyms
- (having much knowledge) brainy, erudite, knowledgeable, scholarly, educated
Antonyms
- (having little knowledge) ignorant, stupid, thick, uneducated
Derived terms
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /lÉœËnd/
- US enPR: lûrnd, IPA: /lÉnd/
Origin 2
From Old English leornian ("to acquire knowledge")
Alternative forms
- learnt UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; rarely used in American English
Verb
learnedlearned
(past of learn)
Adjective
learned
- Derived from experience; acquired by learning.Everyday behavior is an overlay of learned behavior over instinct.