schoolmaster
Americannoun
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a man who presides over or teaches in a school.
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anything that teaches or directs.
Life can be a harsh schoolmaster.
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a snapper, Lutjanus apodus, a food fish found in Florida, the West Indies, etc.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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a man who teaches in or runs a school
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a person or thing that acts as an instructor
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a food fish, Lutjanus apodus, of the warm waters of the Caribbean and Atlantic: family Lutjanidae (snappers)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of schoolmaster
First recorded in 1175–1225, schoolmaster is from the Middle English word scolemaister. See school 1, master
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In Silber’s revival, the wise schoolmaster Mr. Lundie is Widow Lundie, and the town flirt Meg Brockie is a pub owner pushing middle age.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2026
The Post likened him to Ichabod Crane, the fictional schoolmaster in the Washington Irving short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025
Dr. Farmer began his work in the Haitian village of Cange, where he met his future wife, Didi Bertrand, the daughter of a local schoolmaster.
From Washington Post • Feb. 22, 2022
“The Mill on the Floss” contains one of George Eliot’s sharpest caricatures in the figure of the foul schoolmaster Stelling.
From New York Times • May 18, 2021
He felt his consciousness shift and move toward the schoolmaster.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
