Ivy League

American  

noun

1. a group of colleges and universities in the northeastern U.S., consisting of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown, having a reputation for high scholastic achievement and social prestige.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Ivy League colleges or their students and graduates.

Ivy League British  

noun

1. 1. a group of eight universities (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale) that have similar academic and social prestige in the US to Oxford and Cambridge in Britain

   2. ( as modifier )

      an Ivy-League education

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Ivy League Cultural  

1. A group of eight old, distinguished colleges and universities in the East, known for their ivy-covered brick buildings. The members of the Ivy League are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities; Dartmouth College; and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Other Word Forms

• Ivy Leaguer
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of Ivy League

First recorded in 1935–40

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Ivy League

The 2024 incident, as alleged in a graphic lawsuit filed last month, has drawn accusations that the Ivy League institution in New York state failed to properly punish the men involved.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

That version of the tech founder, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, is spiky and motormouthed, eager to climb the Ivy League social ladder.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

On the Ivy League campus, emotions are running high and students are demanding answers from the university’s administration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Cornell is an Ivy League university, alongside Harvard and Yale, and its faculty includes Nobel laureates and other distinguished researchers.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

He was immensely proud that he had a daughter in college, and an Ivy League college at that.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

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