learned

English

Etymology 1

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”.

Alternative forms

• learnèd, learnéd

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɜːnɪd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɝnɪd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

learned (comparative more learned, superlative most learned)

1. Having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated.

   Synonyms: brainy, erudite, knowledgeable, scholarly, educated; see also Thesaurus:learned

   Antonyms: unlearned, ignorant, stupid, thick, uneducated; see also Thesaurus:ignorant

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     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”, in Writer, volume 124, number 2, pages 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”, in American Scholar, volume 80, number 2, pages 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 ...

2. (law, formal) A courteous description used in various ways to refer to lawyers or judges.
3. Scholarly, exhibiting scholarship.
   • 1831 March, anonymous author, “The History of the Doric Race”, in The Edinburgh Review, volume LIII, number CV (book review), page 130:

     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.

Usage notes

• In very rare instances, this adjectival sense is sometimes spelled with a grave accent, learnèd. 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 spelling is largely restricted to poetry and other works in which it is important that the adjective’s disyllabicity be made explicit.
• The superlative forms learnedest and learnedst are archaic and obsolete, respectively.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Past participle of learn.

Alternative forms

• learnt (UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; alternative in Canada; rarely used in American English)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lɜːnd/
• (US) enPR: lûrnd, IPA^(key): /lɝnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nd

Verb

learned

1. (Canada, US and dialectal English) simple past and past participle of learn

Adjective

learned (comparative more learned, superlative most learned)

1. Derived from experience; acquired by learning.

   Antonym: unlearned

   Everyday behavior is an overlay of learned behavior over instinct.

Translations

References

Further reading

• “learned”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “learned”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Darleen, Darlene, Leander, red lane, relaned