1mass noun The devotion of time and attention to gaining knowledge of an academic subject, especially by means of books.

1. 1.1one's studies The time devoted by a particular person to gaining knowledge of an academic subject, typically at school, college, or university.
   some students may not be able to resume their studies

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I won a two year Government of India Scholarship for continued studies in Bharata Natyam.
   • Breda has also recently been employed to work in Kill Post Office, which allows her to focus more time on her studies and evening classes.
   • No doubt you were excited about your musical studies and soaked up as much knowledge possible.
   • Their oldest daughter is about to graduate from high school and hopes to continue her studies in higher education.
   • It became clear that he had been poisoned while flying on Garuda Airlines to the Netherlands where he had received a scholarship to pursue his studies.
   • From classical piano at an early age, her interests developed through studies in Celtic Harp and percussion.
   • With the focus of my art studies on sculpture, I learned that the environment where the art lives is vital.
   • The e-learning programme allowed them to continue their studies without the commitment of a residential course, he said.
   • As well as the coveted title she also received a BBC Young Musician Travel Award to promote her musical studies.
   • A variety of studies has linked active music participation with better performance in school.
   • She won scholarships to continue her studies in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
   • Their only opportunity to pursue college studies was outside Shanghai.
   • The minister added that his country would offer scholarships to Indian students pursuing higher studies in the IT sector.
   • After a year away from his own musical studies, he was ready to return to school.
   • She returned on her aunt's death at the end of the year to Haworth, where she spent the rest of her life, and continued to pursue her studies of German and music.
   • Do you feel your parents would have rather had you pursue your studies in college?
   • Most studies of Sienese art focus on the early trecento.
   • He did come to hear his son give a recital on one occasion, and he provided him with a new piano after he finished his music studies.
   • Within a year he had a scholarship to continue his studies at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.
   • He intends to continue his musical studies after Year 12 with a Bachelor of Music degree.

   Synonyms

   programme of study, course of study, educational programme, set of lectures, curriculum, syllabus, schedule
2. 1.2count noun An academic book or article on a particular topic.
   a study of Jane Austen's novels

   Example sentencesExamples

   • There are very few book length studies of Rushdie and this work therefore becomes extremely significant in the critical canon.
   • A number of studies on this topic are likely to be published shortly.
   • However, to our knowledge, no published study has ever used this revised version.
   • Johnson's study continues the important scholarly work of correcting this misreading.
   • His earlier books include a study of the Court and a biography of Louis XVIII.
   • Those studies are arranged by topic, but Feldman organizes this collection by scholar.
   • Of the three books, this study may receive the most attention because of its methodology.
   • Sadie's other published works include studies of Handel and Mozart.
   • It is an excellent academic study of cultural criticism, especially postmodernism.
   • From then until his death he published a succession of monographs on German art, including further studies of Kandinsky, Kirchner, and Klee.
   • Among the most influential recent studies on Albrecht Durer is that authored by Joseph Koerner.
   • Clovis Whitfield is Director of Whitfield Fine Art in London and the author of various studies on seicento landscape painting.
   • Many of the volumes were ancient and rare studies on various botanical topics.
   • A closer look at polls and studies on the topics yielded some interesting insights.
   • Few published studies on the topic are available, and results have been mixed.
   • His other books include studies of directors Robert Aldrich and David Lean and novelist Raymond Chandler.
   • Both Phayer's book and other recent studies have made Pius's position very clear.

   Synonyms

   essay, article, piece, work, review, report, paper, dissertation, commentary, discourse, critique, disquisition
3. 1.3studies Used in the title of an academic subject.
   an undergraduate course in transport studies

   Example sentencesExamples

   • This is why it may well be worth our while to continue to pursue Catholic studies at places like Santa Clara, and elsewhere.
   • However, young Danes tend to choose humanistic or social science studies over the natural sciences.
   • Seen as a whole, for anyone other than an expert in Leonardo studies, the essays may seem baffling.
   • Charles Stuckey teaches art history and museum studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
   • This conclusion has been confirmed in physiological experiments and biochemical studies.
   • New scientific studies explain how visual perspective works in painting, or why we regard certain patterns and colours as beautiful.
   • Mario Castro is a Ph.D. student in educational leadership and policy studies at Arizona State University.
   • You can trust a literature/cultural studies academic to infer serious meaning from a web cartoon.
   • English was the most popular subject, followed by general studies, maths, biology, history, and psychology.
   • The museum in Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea, plays host to thousands of school children every year as part of their national curriculum studies.
   • This is a mixture of social and political science studies and actual programs.
   • But my grandson studied English, typing and technical studies to get qualifications for a job.
   • We mean to foster debate and circulation of ideas in literary studies and contiguous academic areas.'
   • In fact, of all the areas of Middle Eastern studies, political science is the one where Said has probably had the least impact.
   • In this way, film pushes feminist studies to develop new theories, or to challenge accepted male theories of aesthetics and entertainment.
   • Portraits in miniature occupy an uncertain place in art historical studies.
   • The task of reviewing academic publications in literary studies has fallen to the more specialized journals.
   • The other has to do with the place of Japanese art history within area studies in the context of Cold War geopolitics.
   • Degree programs in urban studies and industrial and technical administration were dropped last year.
   • Information has been selected to assist with National Curriculum studies in schools and features subjects including the plague at Eyam.

2A detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation.

1. 2.1 A portrayal in literature or another art form of an aspect of behaviour or character.
   a complex study of a gay teenager

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Maybe it is just a character study of a sad, desperate man and his sad depressing life.
   • The new novel by Margaret Forster - like much of her previous work - consists of a series of such character studies.
   • They aren't really character studies so much as character sketches.
   • These characters are monstrous studies in sybaritic excess.
   • It is mostly a character study and, thematically and mood-wise, is very similar to Magnolia.
   • Ultimately, this film is a character study of a man with a problem, and how this problem ruins his life.
   • The literature is replete with studies on various aspects of stress and coping in Western populations.
   • However, unlike in many character studies, the plot is more than just a simple framework.
   • Like many smart yet snoozy novels, this film is basically a character study set in a very particular time and place.
   • It's science fiction all right, but it's also a character study and a murder mystery.
   • Both albums have a lot of straight polemics, but both also contain a lot of character studies.
   • This work often seems less like a proper novel than a bare study of two characters.
   • It's a character study, a mystery, and even a little bit of a love story.
   • There are no deep philosophical messages or complex character studies going on in The Funhouse.
   • No soap opera elements, no deep character studies, just an hour where you put the puzzle pieces together, the characters catch the bad guy, and they go home.
   • In many ways, the film is a morality play, but it is equally valid as a thriller or a character study.
   • As with the Martelli, in this gentle, empathetic character study Degas attempts to portray his friend with honesty and truth.
   • This film is basically a character study of two people who both need help, but only one of them realizes it.
   • Green Fish is a complex study of characters who are each trapped in their own desperate situations.
   • The jury has long favoured feel-good coming-of-age films, character studies with a moral, well-crafted films from a bygone time.
2. 2.2archaic A thing that is or deserves to be investigated; the subject of an individual's study.
   I have made it my study to inspect other people's conduct
3. 2.3archaic The object or aim of someone's endeavours.
   the acquisition of a fortune is the study of all
4. 2.4theatrical slang with adjective A person who memorizes a role at a specified speed.
   I'm a quick study

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I am a pretty quick study and knew that I could do the second task great, if not perfectly.
   • Regarding the stirring of change to Canada's copyright laws, here's a quick study in perspective.
   • He launched into the lesson, and quickly learned that she was a quick study.
   • He has had to stand in for injured dancers in leading roles several times, because he's a quick study.
   • The threat terrorists and particularly weapons of mass destruction pose is not a quick study.
   • He is a quick study of pitchers and learns their weaknesses as a game progresses.
   • Anxiety about learning movement kept Sara Hook from being a quick study when she started out.
   • He didn't do well at either, but he is a quick study and has showed improvement each time he has returned to a track.
   • He is a quick study and an excellent broadcaster in just his fifth year in the business.
   • Despite his shortcomings, Beightler proved a quick study and an efficient commander.
   • It took a bit of adjustment from sports car racing to trucks, but Lester is proving to be a quick study.
   • While Milne was not experienced in the wine business, Evans stressed she was a quick study.
   • He was articulate, engaging and a quick study in anything relating to baseball.
   • The minimalist designed eatery is a quick study in the law of supply and demand.
   • Graduates entering IT will need to be mobile and quick studies, she adds.
   • He also identified reduction of medical errors as a top priority. has proven to be a quick study of the agency.
   • Being quick studies helped the couple transform a small, run-down house into a cheerful, colorful home.
   • The early schedule isn't impossible to navigate so long as Palmer is a quick study.
   • However, Betty was a quick study and took to the role of first lady in a way no one had imagined possible.
   • Kurt Busch was a quick study and Greg Biffle has been a quick-study, but Carl has done a really nice job.

3A room used or designed for reading, writing, or academic work.

4A piece of work, especially a drawing, done for practice or as an experiment.

1. 4.1 A musical composition designed to develop a player's technical skill.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Harmony and theory studies supported his first compositional efforts as a teen-ager.
   • If not all the studies have an equivalent sensitivity, the fault is partly Schumann's and that of the modern piano.
   • This kind of ricercar has little musical interest, and is artistically on a par with Czerny's duller technical studies.
   • Indeed, the pianist Egon Petri once said Czerny wrote all of those studies because he hated children.

5A thing or person that is an embodiment or good example of something.

1. 5.1informal An amusing or remarkable thing or person.
   Ira's face was a study as he approached the car

1Devote time and attention to gaining knowledge of (an academic subject), especially by means of books.

1. 1.1 Investigate and analyse (a subject or situation) in detail.
   he has been studying mink for many years

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Peirce spent five years studying the case and amassed an astonishing quantity of information.
   • I've been studying the situation for over half a century now, and the only other option I can see is for Canada to continue with its little matter of genocide.
   • Khodorkovskaya said her son spent most of his time studying the case against him, writing a prison diary and reading history books.
   • You spend a lot of time studying this situation in the Middle East.
   • The delegation will be visiting Kashmir from tomorrow for three days to study the situation there.
   • I am keenly aware of and have studied the webcasting situation in depth, and was an expert witness at the proceeding.
   • This would help members of the health care team to study the situation and help parents through counselling.
   • But most of the historians who have studied the case have concluded that the Massachusetts court didn't end slavery with a righteous bang.
   • It is important to study each situation carefully and respond accordingly.
   • Before making your voting decision I urge you to take the time to study our case.
   • Hood said that of nine mishandling cases that were studied in detail by reviewing thousands of pages of written records, five were confirmed.
   • They have to study the political situation as it has emerged for devising a strategy accordingly.
   • She told the conference that the World Health Organisation, which had studied the situation at great length, did not have a problem with them.
   • A Ministry spokesman said they were now studying the geographical situation, as North Ribblesdale is close to Cumbria, where there have been 691 confirmed cases.
   • Catalyst Women, a non-profit business organization that researches women in the workplace, has studied the situation.
   • Investors can study the details and decide whether to bid.
   • We are aware of the issues involved and we are studying the situation.
   • Nevertheless, studying the extreme case of vestigial teeth clearly confirms that natural selection affects patterns of variability.
   • Consequently I was a twat and began to push her away while I tried to study the situation.

   Synonyms

   investigate, enquire into, research, conduct research into, look into, examine, analyse, explore, probe, monitor, review, appraise, survey, conduct a survey of, scrutinize, dissect, delve into

   informal check out, suss out
2. 1.2no object Apply oneself to study.
   he spent his time listening to the radio rather than studying

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Whilst I was at uni, I put on live shows (rather than studying!) and when I left, I got a job in electrics with he Royal Shakespeare Company.
   • The codes then get studied, interpreted and applied by the same system.
   • I studied to enable me to apply for a reasonably well paid job as medical secretary, and landed a job quickly.
   • The fact is girls study harder and apply themselves to tasks more.
   • At university, he was considered to be too interested in the good life rather than studying.
   • Rather than studying through my lunch break, I went out for a walk.
   • Also I need to give myself lots of study time because I loathe studying and I'm rather bad at disciplining myself to do it.
   • For more than a decade, the nearest university students came to rebellion was to sneak extra books out of the library so they could cram in some more studying.
   • He would have to delay his P2 for a year, and have to study in his own time, rather than on block release.
   • I need to spend time this afternoon studying.
   • Jean could see herself sitting in front of her desk studying and revising.
   • She made her own break while studying at Durham, with stints on local radio in nearby Newcastle.
   • You've been studying and revising so much these past few months, there's no way it can't be good.
   • It's been five years since I moved back to London, after nearly a decade away studying.
   • Colin Dalgleish, appointed non-playing captain for the Walker Cup team, stuck to studying rather than turning professional.
   • Fraser, who is a few years older, started out on university radio while studying in Edinburgh.
   • She laughed to herself, making a sport out of it, but she would much rather have been studying or talking to Helene.
   • I am gratified to find that history does indeed support the confidence I place in reading, studying, and applying the ancient truths.
   • ‘More will have chosen their course by location due to projected rent costs rather than studying where they genuinely want to,’ he said.
   • ‘Eh, I am going to my friend's home for studying,’ I stammered, rather afraid I will be chided for telling the truth.

   Synonyms

   work, apply oneself, read up, revise, burn the midnight oil

   informal swot, cram, mug up, bone up

   archaic con
3. 1.3no object Acquire academic knowledge at an educational establishment.
   he studied at the Kensington School of Art

   Example sentencesExamples

   • He attended the School of Art part-time while studying at the Christchurch Teachers' Training College.
   • Anne who studied in Abbeyleix Further Education Centre is at present teaching art to pupils in Castlecuffe National School.
   • This is nothing revolutionary, because you can become a primary school teacher in Ireland, studying online with Hibernia College.
   • She will be spending the next academic year studying at Harvard University.
   • Karl was educated at home until he turned nine, and then studied at University College School, London, for seven years.
   • The former Blackburn Girls Grammar School pupil studied at Sheffield Art College and went on to study fine art, painting and sculpting at Portsmouth University.
   • HRH studied from kindergarten to high school at Chitralada School in Bangkok.
   • He studied at the famous educational establishments of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama and Madinah University.
   • He was educated at Cradock Boys' High School and later studied at Rhodes University and Oxford.
   • That same year he was awarded a scholarship to study at the American Academy in Rome.
   • He studied at Arts Educational School and in 1953 joined the Theatre Arts Ballet.
   • Born in London, he was educated at Winchester and studied at University College, London.
   • At 16 her parents decided she should broaden her education by studying at Gordonstoun, one of England's most prominent boarding schools.
   • His mother encouraged him to play piano as a toddler, and by 11 he won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music.
   • Matthew Smith is a leadership educator studying for his Master's degree at Kansas State University.
   • A total of 1 370 524 children are studying at public educational establishments this school year.
   • He has studied at the Bath Academy of Arts, Trinity College, Dublin and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan.
   • I'm thinking about moving to San Francisco and studying at the Academy of Art College.
   • After attending Saint Petersburg College Prep School, Laura studied at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
   • Scores of Muslim boys and girls are studying in educational and technical colleges in various parts of the country.
4. 1.4study upUS no object Learn intensively about something, especially in preparation for a test of knowledge.
   schoolchildren studying up on their forebears' games and chores

   Example sentencesExamples

   • She had been studying up on Irish wedding and engagement traditions for a while and she recognized this ring.
   • Even after the verdict, I'm not sure about Blake, nor do I have the interest to study up on it.
   • At the end of the course, students can continue their studies up to the Bachelor in Tourism.
   • I was bound to lose if I did not make use of everything I had been studying up till then.
   • Chances are you'll have your crews working under lights almost as often as your favorite ball team, so you'd do well to study up.
   • He seemed to be studying up on something, and he would mutter to himself from time to time.
   • He belongs to a small group of law students who are studying up for proper reasons, and who have been providing colorful alternatives to the DNC all week long.
   • And coming up, lawmakers may be squabbling over its merits, but students of business are studying up on outsourcing.
   • Born into a poor family as sixth child of a weaver father, she had an opportunity to study up to 10th standard at the expense of two of her elder sisters, who had to shoulder the financial burden of their father, taking up weaving at a young age.
   • After removing built up floor wax you need to study up on how to apply floor wax.
   • If Jones is a member of the regular Peak writing staff then I urge him to study up on his knowledge of bands and genres of music.
   • He'd been studying up on the history of Roman Colchester.
   • I tried to study up on this aircraft, obviously an older one, so that when we got to the site we could more easily find remains via the wreckage.
   • She hoped that she could get a part-time job (not a full one, since she also had to study up before school started).
   • I have been training and studying up till today to see if this theory would work in actual practice.
   • Maybe then he'll have the time to study up on history, and learn the lesson of Francis Cabot Lowell.
   • So I was at school, studying up in the library, as I have done quite often in the past weeks because of the exams.
   • Elizabeth Heenk, from the Netherlands, has made a comprehensive study of the artist's drawings.
   • They all speak of their love of living in a place so diverse and multicultural, as they study up on the various spellings of obscure words.
   • Then, at your leisure, pull out the old history books and study up on where we've been, what we've done, and how we got to be the way we are today.
5. 1.5 (of an actor) try to learn (the words of one's role).
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The one thing that probably would be on my mind a lot (besides studying my words, of course) was the play.
   • In 1859, when she was 16, she made her opera debut as Lucia di Lammermoor in New York, after studying the role with the conductor Emmanuele Muzio.
   • Unlike ‘Tristan,’ Domingo has been studying this role only recently.
6. 1.6West Indian Give serious thought or consideration to.
   the people here don't make so much noise, so the government don't have us to study

2Look at closely in order to observe or read.

3archaic Make an effort to achieve (a result) or take into account (a person or their wishes)