seminary
Americannoun
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a special school providing education in theology, religious history, etc., primarily to prepare students for the priesthood, ministry, or rabbinate.
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a school, especially one of higher grade.
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a school of secondary or higher level for young women.
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a place of origin and propagation.
a seminary of discontent.
noun
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an academy for the training of priests, rabbis, etc
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another word for seminar
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a place where something is grown
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of seminary
1400–50; late Middle English: seed plot, nursery < Latin sēminārium, equivalent to sēmin- (stem of sēmen ) seed, semen + -ārium -ary
Explanation
What do ministers, priests, rabbis, and children have in common? They all might attend a school that has the word seminary in its name. A seminary is a school, especially one where people train to be religious leaders. Seminary comes from the Latin word seminarium, meaning "plant nursery," which can be interpreted as, "breeding ground." Like a greenhouse that provides ideal conditions for seeds to grow into hearty plants, a seminary was first a place for young men to become priests. Seminary typically describes religious institutions but it can apply to nonreligious schools as well.
Vocabulary lists containing seminary
The Alchemist
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Lyddie
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Chapter 20: Renaissance and Reformation
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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.
A graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary in California, he founded Zion in 2007 during a period of rapid growth of Christianity in China.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
I know that you are familiar with the work of James Cone, who was one of my professors at Union Seminary.
From Salon • Dec. 16, 2024
And yet this had been a fraught process for Lau-Lavie, an Israel-born gay man who just a few years before entering New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary had been a pillar of a “God-optional” community.
From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2024
Iam Clay, a student at the nearby Columbia-affiliated Union Theological Seminary, was one of the protesters inside Hamilton Hall.
From Slate • Jun. 4, 2024
He rode back to the Seminary, looked down the road.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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.
