polymath
/ˈpɒlɪmaθ
/noun
A person of wide knowledge or learning: a Renaissance polymath...
- James Lighthill was indeed a brilliant scientist; but he was also a polymath, with knowledge, insight and enthusiasm for the arts and humanities.
- What I didn't know at the time was he was also a polymath, with a wide range of interests and a photographic memory.
- In an age of polymaths who mastered all the disciplines, knew many languages, and wrote more than any modern can read, chronology, with its varied contents and technical difficulties, seemed the essence of scholarship.
Derivatives
polymathic
- That is the daunting task for undaunted talk radio hosts, Web pundits, and bar drunks, and a major reason why such polymathic opinion dispensers rarely provide much more than a light snack for those seeking the nourishment of truth.
- In it he exhibits a polymathic fluency in nearly every language of social theory from the late 18th century to the present.
- Margie Thomson has chronicled his journey from musical whiz kid to polymathic author.
polymathy
- Specialisation is seen as far more desirable than polymathy.
- Polymathy could not be maintained because of the continuously increasing knowledge base that resulted in the establishment of scientific disciplines and scientists who knew much more in a specific area.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Greek polumathēs 'having learned much', from polu- 'much' + the stem of manthanein 'learn'.
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