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.
Three-fourths of school-going children couldn’t read or understand a simple story by the end of primary school.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
Set and filmed in north Norfolk, Ifans plays Tony Evans, the deputy head of a primary school, while Linney stars as Emma Dretzin, a pianist, composer and mother of two daughters.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
Nine children have been taken to hospital after eating seeds from trees at a primary school in Nottinghamshire.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
"To me the diamonds have failed us," says Abubakar Amara, a primary school teacher in Kono.
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
It was a primary school before the war.
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.
