school1
/skuːl
/noun
1An institution for educating children: Ryder’s children did not go to school at all [as modifier]: school books...
- At school he excelled at all sports, becoming captain of athletics and representing his school in the public schools championships.
- At school, if your teacher had told the class that one kid was going to be famous, how many kids would have said it would be you?
- When I was in school, I used to do impressions of my friends at school and stuff like that.
Synonyms
educational institution, centre of learning;
academy, college;
Latin alma mater
rare phrontistery
1.1The buildings used by a school: the cost of building a new school...
- We didn't begin with a project for a house or a school or an office building.
- It looks at facilities like schools, office buildings and factories, and the chemicals likely to be in them.
- They found rates 50 per cent higher than levels established for American schools and public buildings.
1.2 [treated as plural] The pupils and staff of a school: the head addressed the whole school...
- To be rude, I hate the nurse more then any teacher in the whole entire school.
- I'm the one with all the inside info on every single student in the whole pathetic school.
- What if the whole entire school catches it and falls into horrible states mentally and physically?
1.3 [mass noun] A day’s work at school: school started at 7 a.m....
- The bell rang signalling the end of school and pupils rushed from the front exit out into the street.
2Any institution at which instruction is given in a particular discipline: a dancing school...
- It is set in a dancing school, which opens with a scene of disarray (music and chairs scattered around).
- In this latter regard I am not sure that it is the role of design schools to produce design critics and design writers as much as it is to explore and engender critical practices.
- Art schools trained applied artists to create commercial art and decorative furnishings but offered no training in new technologies.
2.1North American informal another term for university. Harvard is certainly not a loafer’s school...
- It was therefore out of necessity that we were all drafted into the school's varsity basketball team.
- That's so sad for Scott because he plays tennis all his life and he's a varsity player of their school.
- Many successful people who couldn't afford Ivy League schools graduated from city and state colleges.
2.2A department or faculty of a university concerned with a particular subject of study: the School of Medicine...
- Optometry courses lasting three years are taught in eight university departments and schools in the UK.
- In order to acquire the funding to expand departments, art schools and universities had to meet the formal requirements attached to the bill.
- Collaborations with other departments or schools at the university also help students explore alternatives.
Synonyms
department, faculty, division
3A group of people, particularly writers, artists, or philosophers, sharing similar ideas or methods: the Frankfurt school of critical theory...
- Furthermore, particular schools of artists and artistic movements are also separate markets.
- The hanging schemes did not accentuate the unique character of individual artists and schools.
- At the same time, a school of white jazz grew up in New York, led by Red Nichols, the Dorsey brothers Tommy and Jimmy, and others.
Synonyms
group, set, circle, clique, faction, sect;
followers, following, disciples, apostles, pupils, students, admirers, devotees, votaries;
proponents, adherents, imitators, copiers, emulators
rare epigones
3.1 [with adjective or noun modifier] A style, approach, or method of a specified character: film-makers are tired of the skin-deep school of cinema...
- My poetic revelation occurred in the last stages of modernism, when the various schools of the avant-garde were beginning to appear in Latin America.
- For fans of old and new school metal this is a great mix to have cranked up in your car stereo.
- Dvorak himself deliberately failed to initiate an American school of music.
Synonyms
way of thinking, school of thought, persuasion, creed, credo, doctrine, belief, faith, outlook, opinion, point of view;
denomination;
approach, method, style
informal ism
4 (schools) British (At Oxford University) the hall in which final examinations are held.
4.1Final examinations: I never took schools. I was ill
5British A group gambling together: a poker school
5.1A group of people drinking together in a bar and taking turns to buy the drinks: I ordered a pint of bitter for myself—I didn’t want to get into a school
verb [with object]
1 formal or North American Send to school; educate: Taverier was born in Paris and schooled in Lyon...
- Australians shared the same language, relied on British news for knowledge of the world, and were schooled in an education system which sustained British loyalties.
- He speaks great English, in fact, was schooled in the United States.
- Fifteen or 20 years ago I could protect my children from the excesses of consumerism and materialism by schooling them at home and putting the TV in the closet.
Synonyms
educate, teach, instruct
1.1Train or discipline (someone) in a particular skill or activity: he schooled her in horsemanship it’s important to school yourself to be good at exams...
- Geragos has schooled him and prepared him very well.
- In her disguise as the boy Ganymede, Rosalind is able to promise Orlando a cure for lovesickness and also schools him in the art of love!
- He also has a treasure trove of beer facts and information to school anyone on the secrets of the suds.
Synonyms
train, teach, tutor, coach, instruct, upskill, drill, discipline, direct, guide, prepare, groom, mould, shape, form;
prime, verse;
indoctrinate, inculcate
2 Riding Train (a horse) on the flat or over fences: if you have schooled your horse properly, your riding will look better
adjective South African
1(Of a Xhosa) educated and westernized: economic considerations persuaded many Xhosa not to become school by opting for a Western lifestyle Contrasted with red (sense 4 of the adjective).
1.1(Of a name) of Western origin: it embarrasses me to be called by the school name I was given at church
With reference to the mission schools, which encouraged westernized dress, language, and behaviour
Phrases
leave school
of (or from) the old school
the school of hard knocks
school of thought
Origin
Old English scōl, scolu, via Latin from Greek skholē 'leisure, philosophy, lecture place', reinforced in Middle English by Old French escole.
The school that children go to derives from Greek skholē ‘leisure, philosophy, place for lectures’, the source also of scholar (Old English). Many ancient Greeks clearly spent their leisure time in intellectual pursuits rather than physical recreation. This is not the same school that large groups of fish or sea mammals congregate in. Here the word comes from early German and Dutch schōle, ‘a troop, multitude’, and comes from the same root as shoal (Old English) and is related to shallow (Late Middle English).
Rhymes
school2
/skuːl/noun
A large group of fish or sea mammals: a school of dolphins...
- The area was swarming with people the way a school of fish in a net would flop about.
- Shy leaves hide under their brethren as the icy chill dives and chases each one like a predator feasting on a school of fish.
- Inside her cluttered mind memories swam like a skittish school of fish.
verb [no object]
(Of fish or sea mammals) form a large group: grey snapper schooled in shallow lagoons
Origin
Late Middle English: from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schōle, of West Germanic origin; related to Old English scolu 'troop'. Compare with shoal1.