school

/skul/

/skul/

Other forms: schools; schooled

School is the place you go to learn, and the place you escape from when you play hooky. When you school someone, it means you’ve educated or put that person in his or her place.

School has its roots in the Greek skhole. That word originally had the sense of “leisure,” which evolved into a “place for discussion,” so you can see how school came to have its modern meaning. School, as in "school of thought," can describe a group of people bonded together by shared principles. The phrase "school of hard knocks" is slang for “rough experience in life.” School also refers to a large group of fish that swim together.

Definitions of school

1. noun

   an educational institution
   “the school was founded in 1900”

   types:

   academy

   a school for special training

   correspondence school

   a school that teaches nonresident students by mail

   crammer

   a special school where students are crammed

   dancing school

   a school in which students learn to dance

   direct-grant school

   formerly a school that charged tuition fees and also received government grants in return for admitting certain non-paying students who were nominated by the local authorities

   driving school

   a school where people are taught to drive automobiles

   finishing school

   a private school for girls that emphasizes training in cultural and social activities

   flying school

   a school for teaching students to fly airplanes

   grad school, graduate school

   a school in a university offering study leading to degrees beyond the bachelor's degree

   language school

   a school for teaching foreign languages

   nursing school, school of nursing

   a school for training nurses

   religious school

   a school run by a religious body

   riding school

   a school where horsemanship is taught and practiced

   Gymnasium, lycee, lyceum, middle school, secondary school

   a school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12

   secretarial school

   a school where secretarial skills (typing and shorthand and filing etc) are taught

   tech, technical school

   a school teaching mechanical and industrial arts and the applied sciences

   training school

   a school providing practical vocational and technical training

   veterinary school

   a school teaching veterinary medicine

   conservatory

   the faculty and students of a school specializing in one of the fine arts

   alma mater

   your alma mater is a school you graduated from

   public school

   a tuition free school in the United States supported by taxes and controlled by a school board

   private school

   a school established and controlled privately and supported by endowment and tuition

   dance school

   a school where students are taught to dance

   day school

   a school giving instruction during the daytime

   night school

   a school that holds classes in the evenings for students who cannot attend during the day

   Sabbath school, Sunday school

   school meeting on Sundays for religious instruction

   elementary school, grade school, grammar school, primary school

   a school for young children; usually the first 6 or 8 grades

   junior school

   British school for children aged 7-11

   infant school

   British school for children aged 5-7

   yeshiva, yeshivah

   an academy for the advanced study of Jewish texts (primarily the Talmud)

   academy

   a secondary school (usually private)

   police academy

   an academy for training police officers

   military academy

   an academy for training military officers

   naval academy

   an academy for training naval officers

   air force academy

   an academy for training air force officers

   Plato's Academy

   a school established by Plato in ancient Athens

   business school

   a graduate school offering study leading to a degree of Master in Business Administration

   dental school, school of dentistry

   a graduate school offering study leading to degrees in dentistry

   law school, school of law

   a graduate school offering study leading to a law degree

   madrasa, madrasah

   a Muslim college, university, or school

   medical school, school of medicine

   a graduate school offering study leading to a medical degree

   music school, school of music

   a school for the study of music

   pesantran, pesantren

   a Muslim school in Indonesia operated by religious leaders; produces young militants skilled in jihad

   church school, parochial school

   a private religious school run by a church or parish

   seminary

   a private place of education for the young

   seminary

   a theological school for training ministers or priests or rabbis

   engineering school, polytechnic, polytechnic institute

   a technical school offering instruction in many industrial arts and applied sciences

   trade school, vocational school

   a secondary school teaching the skilled trades

   high, high school, highschool, senior high, senior high school

   a public secondary school usually including grades 9 through 12

   junior high, junior high school

   a secondary school usually including 7th and 8th grades

   prep school, preparatory school

   a private secondary school

   charter school

   an experimental public school for kindergarten through grade 12; created and organized by teachers and parents and community leaders; operates independently of other schools

   public school

   private independent secondary school in Great Britain supported by endowment and tuition

   day school

   a private school taking day students only

   boarding school

   a private school where students are lodged and fed as well as taught

   grammar school

   a secondary school emphasizing Latin and Greek in preparation for college

   secondary modern school

   a former British secondary school emphasizing practical rather than academic education

   composite school, comprehensive school

   a large British or Canadian secondary school for children of all abilities

   type of:

   educational institution

   an institution dedicated to education
2. noun

   a building where young people receive education
   “the school was built in 1932”

   “he walked to school every morning”

   synonyms: schoolhouse

   types:

   conservatoire, conservatory

   a schoolhouse with special facilities for fine arts

   day school

   a school building without boarding facilities

   art school

   a school specializing in art

   music school

   a school specializing in music

   type of:

   building, edifice

   a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place
3. noun

   an educational institution's faculty and students
   “the school keeps parents informed”

   “the whole school turned out for the game”

   type of:

   educational institution

   an institution dedicated to education
4. noun

   the process of being formally educated at a school
   “what will you do when you finish school?”

   synonyms: schooling

   type of:

   education

   the gradual process of acquiring knowledge
5. noun

   the period of instruction in a school; the time period when school is in session
   “stay after school”

   “he didn't miss a single day of school”

   “when the school day was done we would walk home together”

   synonyms: school day, schooltime

   type of:

   period, period of time, time period

   an amount of time
6. verb

   educate in or as if in a school
   “The children are schooled at great cost to their parents in private institutions”

   types:

   home-school

   educate (one's children) at home instead of sending (them) to a school

   type of:

   educate

   give an education to
7. verb

   teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment
   “She is well schooled in poetry”

   synonyms: civilise, civilize, cultivate, educate, train

   types:

   sophisticate

   make less natural or innocent

   type of:

   down, fine-tune, polish, refine

   improve or perfect by pruning or polishing
8. noun

   a body of creative artists or writers or thinkers linked by a similar style or by similar teachers
   “the Venetian school of painting”

   types:

   Ashcan School, Eight

   a group of United States painters founded in 1907 and noted for their realistic depictions of sordid aspects of city life

   deconstructivism

   a school of architecture based on the philosophical theory of deconstruction

   historical school

   a school of 19th century German economists and legal philosophers who tried to explain modern economic systems in evolutionary or historical terms

   pointillism

   a school of painters who used a technique of painting with tiny dots of pure colors that would blend in the viewer's eye; developed by Georges Seurat and his followers late in 19th century France

   art nouveau

   a French school of art and architecture popular in the 1890s; characterized by stylized natural forms and sinuous outlines of such objects as leaves and vines and flowers

   lake poets

   English poets at the beginning of the 19th century who lived in the Lake District and were inspired by it

   secession, sezession

   an Austrian school of art and architecture parallel to the French art nouveau in the 1890s

   type of:

   body

   a group of persons associated by some common tie or occupation and regarded as an entity
9. noun

   a large group of fish
   “a school of small glittering fish swam by”

   synonyms: shoal

   type of:

   animal group

   a group of animals
10. verb

    swim in or form a large group of fish
    “A cluster of schooling fish was attracted to the bait”

    type of:

    swim

    travel through water