learned

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lerned, from Old English læran (“to teach”)

Pronunciation

Verb

learned

  1. simple past tense and past participle of learn: taught

Adjective

learned (comparative more learned, superlative most learned)

  1. 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 Feb, Jess Lourey, “A Pyramid Approach to Novel Writing”, Writer, volume 124, number 2, page 30-32: 
      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 Spring, Jill Lepore, “How Longfellow Woke the Dead”, American Scholar, volume 80, number 2, page 33-46: 
      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 /ɪ/ or /ə/, 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
Antonyms
Derived terms
terms derived from learned (having much knowledge)
Translations
having much learning

Etymology 2

From Old English leornian (“to acquire knowledge”)

Alternative forms

  • learnt (UK only; seldom used in American English)

Pronunciation

Verb

learned

  1. simple past tense and past participle of learn

Adjective

learned (comparative more learned, superlative most learned)

  1. Derived from experience; acquired by learning.
    Everyday behavior is an overlay of learned behavior over instinct.
Translations
acquired by learning
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Last modified on 21 April 2013, at 13:53