Sabbatical

American  

[suh-bat-i-kuhl] / səˈbæt ɪ kəl /

Sometimes Sabbatic

adjective

1. of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.

2. (lowercase) of or relating to a sabbatical year.

3. (lowercase) bringing a period of rest.

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noun

1. (lowercase) sabbatical year.

2. (lowercase) any extended period of leave from one's customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.

sabbatical ¹ British  

/ səˈbætɪkəl /

adjective

1. denoting a period of leave granted to university staff, teachers, etc, esp approximately every seventh year

   a sabbatical year

   sabbatical leave

2. denoting a post that renders the holder eligible for such leave

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noun

1. any sabbatical period

Sabbatical ² British  

/ səˈbætɪkəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or appropriate to the Sabbath as a day of rest and religious observance

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noun

1. short for sabbatical year

Other Word Forms

• Sabbatically adverb
• Sabbaticalness noun
• non-Sabbatic adjective
• non-Sabbatical adjective
• non-Sabbatically adverb

Etymology

Origin of Sabbatical

First recorded in 1605–15; equivalent to Greek sabbatikós (from sábbat(on) Sabbath + -ikos -ic ) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

The way she sees it, she’s earned her sabbatical from domestic servitude.

From Salon

But this week, after last season’s disastrous 5-12 finish, McVay’s second consecutive postseason flirtation with a sabbatical, the trade or release of several marquee players and the team’s non-pursuit of free agents, the Rams are somewhat of a buzzkill.

From Los Angeles Times

Andrej Karpathy, Tesla’s director of artificial intelligence, took a months-long sabbatical last year before leaving Tesla and taking a position this year at OpenAI, the company behind language-modeling software ChatGPT.

From Washington Post

Guerra said that Garcetti can “take a kind of sabbatical from electoral politics but he can still remain in the game for the longer run with this kind of high-profile appointment.”

From Los Angeles Times

For Kathleen Sannicks-Lerner, a veteran elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, this school year proved so taxing that she went on sabbatical in January.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• furlough
• leave of absence
• recess
• time off