Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun plural Academic disciplines, including literature, history, languages, philosophy, mathematics, and general sciences, viewed in contrast to professional and technical disciplines.
- noun plural The disciplines comprising the trivium and quadrivium.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun those areas of
learning that require and cultivategeneral intellectual ability rather thantechnical skills ; thehumanities - noun obsolete the
trivium and thequadrivium
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English, translation of Medieval Latin artēs liberālēs, the trivium and quadrivium : Latin artēs, pl. of ars, subject of study + līberālēs, pl. of līberālis, proper to free persons.]
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