Jump to:

• academy
  academy

  noun

  a secondary or high school, especially a private one.
• Academy
  Academy

  noun

academy

American  

[uh-kad-uh-mee] / əˈkæd ə mi /

noun

academies plural

1. a secondary or high school, especially a private one.

   My daughter goes to a very exclusive academy in Chicago.

2. a school or college for special instruction or training in a subject.

   a military academy.

3. an association or institution for the advancement of art, literature, or science.

   the National Academy of Arts and Letters.

4. a group of authorities and leaders in a field of scholarship, art, etc., who are often permitted to dictate standards, prescribe methods, and criticize new ideas.

5. the Academy,

   1. the Platonic school of philosophy or its adherents.

   2. academe.

   3. French Academy.

   4. Royal Academy.

   5. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

---

Academy ¹ British  

/ əˈkædəmɪ /

noun

1. 1. the grove or garden near Athens where Plato taught in the late 4th century _bc

   2. the school of philosophy founded by Plato

   3. the members of this school and their successors

2. short for the French Academy Royal Academy

---

academy ² British  

/ əˈkædəmɪ /

noun

1. an institution or society for the advancement of literature, art, or science

2. a school for training in a particular skill or profession

   a military academy

3. a secondary school: now used only as part of a name, and often denoting a private school

---

Etymology

Origin of academy

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English achademye, achadomye, from Latin Acadēmīa, the name of the public gymnasium near Athens, sacred to the hero Academus, where Plato established his school of philosophy; from Greek Akadēmía, variant of Akadḗmeia, noun use of feminine adjective Akadḗmeios, derivative of Akádēm(os) + -eia adjective suffix; see origin at Academus; see also -y ³ ( def. )

Explanation

An academy is a fancy school, often one devoted to one subject or discipline, such as music or science. You can also use academy to describe the world of higher learning. If you show unusual gifts as a clarinetist, you should consider attending the music academy in the next town. That's where you'll learn the most about your art. It's a private school, the Goodman Academy of Music, named after Benny Goodman, who was the greatest jazz clarinetist ever. If you want to use academy in its other sense, try "Those home experiments are cool, but without peer review, the academy will never accept them as science." Darn academy.

Example Sentences

North Carolina’s AI Academy at NC State, built with more than 100 corporate partners, combines university credentialing with applied workplace training.

From MarketWatch • May 27, 2026

This includes a career-spanning survey at London’s National Portrait Gallery that will travel to Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy, as well as exhibitions in Kassel, Germany, and Trondheim, Norway.

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026

Meanwhile, the UK's most senior doctors - the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges - have made their own call for action on social media use by young people because of the serious impact on health.

From BBC • May 25, 2026

Demis Hassabis, head of Google DeepMind, the search giant’s AI arm, was in 2024 named by the Vatican to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026

“I mentioned a top secret training activity the mountain was doing at the Academy this week, and that for the sake of security she shouldn’t mention if she saw any of the mountain students.”

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• boarding school
• institute
• prep school
• secondary school
• seminary