primary school
Americannoun
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a school usually covering the first three or four years of elementary school and sometimes kindergarten.
noun
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(in Britain) a school for children below the age of 11. It is usually divided into an infant and a junior section
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(in the US and Canada) a school equivalent to the first three or four grades of elementary school, sometimes including a kindergarten
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of primary school
First recorded in 1795–1805
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.
At her South East London primary school, collections have reached as much as £560, which is split between the teacher and teaching assistants.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
And Alistair Wilson, deputy headteacher at Whipton Barton Federation primary school in Exeter, Devon, is opening at normal time but running a non-uniform day and showing match highlights in classrooms after breakfast.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Two coachloads of visitors arrived while AFP was visiting the village -- one of primary school children, the other of Polish tourists.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Ceri Roberts, the council's Welsh-medium education transformation officer, said Welsh-medium primary school intakes in the county borough were rising and a number of schools had won awards in Welsh education.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
When they were in primary school, they sometimes looked at each other and laughed, without speaking, because they were thinking the same joke.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
