donnish

adj

Etymology: From don (professor) + -ish.

1. Characteristic of a university don.

   “The proctor was a gentlemanly, straight-forward looking man of about thirty, not at all donnish, and his address answered to his appearance.”

   “The truth is, unless a man can get the prestige and income of a Don and write donnish books, it’s hardly worth while for him to make a Greek and Latin machine of himself and be able to spin you out pages of the Greek dramatists at any verse you’ll give him as a cue.”

2. Bookish, theoretical and pedantic, as opposed to practical.

   “The new engineer had a donnish air, and found it difficult to communicate with the workers in the factory.”