as in genius
formal
someone who knows a lot about many different things
She is rightly regarded as something of a polymath in her extensive knowledge of all the earth sciences.
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variants
or polymathic
as in erudite
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Examples of polymath in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Andrew North, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2016
The two-part, four-hour doc — directed by Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns and his son-in-law David McMahon — explores the life and work of the 15th-century polymath.
—Addie Morfoot, Variety, 23 June 2024
In the arcane tradition of Thomas De Quincey’s 1821 work Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, this slim nonfiction book by a Belgian polymath diaries one man’s narcotic self-experiments.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 20 Apr. 2024
He was joined there by his friend Dan Sullivan, a fellow polymath, who has also collected a staggering number of credentials.
—Joseph Bernstein Robert Petkoff Krish Seenivasan Devin Murphy, New York Times, 3 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for polymath 
Noun
In 1713, King Vakhtang VI of Georgia sent his former teacher, the famed polymath and writer Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, to France and Italy on an urgent diplomatic mission.
—Andrew North, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2016
The two-part, four-hour doc — directed by Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns and his son-in-law David McMahon — explores the life and work of the 15th-century polymath.
—Addie Morfoot, Variety, 23 June 2024
In the arcane tradition of Thomas De Quincey’s 1821 work Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, this slim nonfiction book by a Belgian polymath diaries one man’s narcotic self-experiments.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 20 Apr. 2024
He was joined there by his friend Dan Sullivan, a fellow polymath, who has also collected a staggering number of credentials.
—Joseph Bernstein Robert Petkoff Krish Seenivasan Devin Murphy, New York Times, 3 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for polymath
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'polymath.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Polymath.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/polymath. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
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