learned
/ˈlɜːnɪd//ˈlɝnɪd/
learned adjective: having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated. Also the simple past and past participle of learn.
Adjective (1)
learned (comparative more learned, superlative most learned)
- Having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated.
- the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- My learned Brother Cresswell directed the jury to make the calculation […]1854, Charles Edward Pollock, Lake v. Plaxton, 156 Eng. Rep. 412 (Exch.) 414; 10 Ex. 199, 200 (Eng.)
- Synonyms:
- brainy, erudite, knowledgeable, scholarly, educated
- Antonyms:
- unlearned, ignorant, stupid, thick, uneducated, benighted, cimmerian, clueless, foolish, ill-informed
- A courteous description used in various ways to refer to lawyers or judges.
- Scholarly, exhibiting scholarship.
- But our limits will not permit us to discuss the many important and curious questions respecting the science of government, to which this learned work invites attention.1831 March, anonymous author, “The History of the Doric Race”, in The Edinburgh Review, volume LIII, number CV (book review), page 130
Adjective (2)
UK/lɜːnd/US/lɝnd/
learned (comparative more learned, superlative most learned)
- Derived from experience; acquired by learning.
- Everyday behavior is an overlay of learned behavior over instinct.
- Antonyms:
- unlearned
Proper noun capitalized: Learned
Learned (plural Learneds)
- A surname.
Also used as
learned is also the simple past and past participle of learn.
learned meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Malayalam
learned in Hindi
- सीखा
learned in Marathi
- शिकलो, शिकलेले, शिकलेला
learned in Urdu
- سیکھا
learned in Malayalam
- പഠിച്ചു, പഠിച്ചവർ
More languagesFewer languages
- learned in Kannada
- ಕಲಿತಿದ್ದಾರೆ, ಕಲಿತಿದ್ದು
- learned in Gujarati
- શીખ્યા
- learned in Sanskrit
- पण्डित paṇḍita
Examples of learned in a sentence
- 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 Feb, Jess Lourey, “A Pyramid Approach to Novel Writing”, in Writer, volume 124, number 2, pages 30–32:
- 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 ...2011 Spring, Jill Lepore, “How Longfellow Woke the Dead”, in American Scholar, volume 80, number 2, pages 33–46:
- Learned both in the literatures of the Ancient Near East and in IE Studies, West wrote two compendia of parallels between Greek and other literatures.2025 December 12, Tom Hercules Davies, “Horses, Wheels, Languages: Greek, Mesopotamian and Indic Epic on the Eurasian Steppe”, in The...
Synonyms of learned
- brainy
- erudite
- knowledgeable
- scholarly
- educated
- academical
- clueful
- cultivated
- in the know
- knowledgeful
7 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of learned
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more learned |
| superlative | most learned |
| alternative form | learnèd |
| alternative form | learnéd |
| Verb | |
| alternative form | learnt |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Learneds |
Origin of learned
From Middle English lerned, lernd, lernyd, equivalent to learn + -ed, which replaced the earlier lered (“taught”), from Old English (ġe)lǣred, past participle of lǣran (“to teach”). Learn formerly had the meaning “to teach”, which is now found only in nonstandard speech, as well as its standard meaning of “to learn”.
Past participle of learn.
Words formed from learned
- book-learned
- learned borrowing
- learnedism
- learned loan
- learned loanword
- learnedly
- learned member
- learnedness
- learned profession
- learned society
- learned treatise
- m'learned friends
- my learned friend
- my learned friends
- semi-learned borrowing
- semi-learned loan
- semi-learned loanword
- well-learned
- learned helplessness
- prelearned
Phrases with learned
- learned loans
- learned Chinese
- learned members
- lessons learned
- learned loanwords
- learned societies
- learned the ropes
- learned treatises
- lived and learned
- learned borrowings
- learned one's place
- learned professions
4 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with learned
Questions about learned
- What does learned mean?
- Learned means having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated.
- What is learned in Hindi?
- Learned in Hindi is सीखा. See Learned meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use learned in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is learned?
- Learned can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce learned?
- Learned is pronounced /ˈlɜːnɪd/ (UK).
Words near learned in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: learned (page history and authors); Learned (page history and authors); learned (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); learned (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); learned (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); learned (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); learned (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); learned (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-learned (adj).wav, en-us-learned.ogg.
Cite this entry: “learned.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/learned. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.