noun
studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills) (Freq. 1)
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the college of arts and sciences
• Syn: ↑humanistic discipline, ↑humanities, ↑arts
• Hypernyms:
• Hyponyms:
↑neoclassicism, ↑classicism, ↑classicalism, ↑Romanticism, ↑Romantic Movement, ↑English, ↑history, ↑art history, ↑chronology, ↑fine arts, ↑beaux arts, ↑performing arts, ↑Occidentalism, ↑Orientalism, ↑Oriental Studies, ↑philosophy, ↑literary study, ↑library science, ↑linguistics, ↑philology, ↑musicology, ↑Sinology, ↑stemmatology, ↑stemmatics, ↑trivium, ↑quadrivium
* * *
noun [plural]
: areas of study (such as history, language, and literature) that are intended to give you general knowledge rather than to develop specific skills needed for a profession
the sciences and the liberal arts
She graduated from a liberal arts college in the Midwest.
* * *
subjects of study that develop students' general knowledge and ability to think, rather than their technical skills
•
a liberal arts college
Word Origin:
[liberal arts] liberal, as distinct from servile or mechanical (i.e. involving manual labour) and originally referring to arts and sciences considered “worthy of a free man”; later the word related to general intellectual development rather than vocational training.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.