erudite

What it means

1. Learned, scholarly, with emphasis on knowledge gained from books.

   She was praised for her erudite contributions to the academic journal.

   5 more examples

   The professor gave an erudite lecture that impressed everyone in the audience.

   His erudite knowledge of ancient history made him a sought-after speaker.

   At all events, if it involved any secret information in regard to old Roger Chillingworth, it was in a tongue unknown to the erudite clergyman, and did but increase the bewilderment of his mind.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter XII, in The Scarlet Letter

   Elmer Moffatt had been magnificent, rolling out his alternating effects of humour and pathos, stirring his audience by moving references to the Blue and the Gray, convulsing them by a new version of Washington and the Cherry Tree […], dazzling them by his erudite allusions and apt quotations.

   1913, Edith Wharton, “Chapter 43”, in The Custom of the Country

   THE CONCISE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF WORLD RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES. Edited by P. Ransome-Wallis. Hutchinson. 50s. [...] The most erudite locomotive engineer could not fail to excavate new knowledge from this remarkably comprehensive volume, [...]

   1960 January, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 26

   Synonyms: academical, clueful, cultivated, educated, in the know, knowledgeable, knowledgeful, knowsome

In a sentence

The professor gave an erudite lecture that impressed everyone in the audience.

Where it comes from

1. Latinērudītus
2. Englisherudite

From Latin ērudītus, participle of ērudiō (“educate, train”), from e- (“out of”) + rudis (“rude, unskilled”). Doublet of erudit.