Jump To:

• academy
  academy

  noun

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

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• academies
  plural

---

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

See Examples For:

academy Academy academies

He reflected on the promise he had made at the military academy, almost a decade earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Now, at the academy, cadets had to fork over to leave the compound, take longer vacations or choose their military base after graduation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Segev met Tamar Bar-Ilan and Yonatan Itai in 2010 when they started their Israel Defense Forces service and joined its Talpiot program, a secretive and selective tech leadership academy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Inglethorpe and his team oversee the development of younger players and ensure there is alignment between the academy and the first team.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

But soon Ahmad left college and enrolled in a naval officer’s training academy.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

Academy life was fueling Stupnikov’s own disenchantment with the army, even as he excelled in sports and schoolwork.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Their research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with additional findings published earlier this year in Cancer Research.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026

ABC considered dropping the Oscars before signing its last rights deal with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Its success helped the singer from Alabama to sweep the Academy of Country Music Awards in May.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Compared to the expansive staff of the Academy, the mountain was run and maintained by just a small group of professors, a handful of security officers, a few tech specialists, a cook, and a housekeeper.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Those drafted must compete for roster spots with top foreign talent, including Dominican teens who come out of the island’s Major League team academies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Eyeball takes north of 2,000 data points every match, typically from leading amateur clubs and elite academies who film and upload their fixtures.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Tickets to events featuring him are often sold out, applications to darting academies are reported to be at an all-time high and the Briton has transcended the sport.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

After playing for youth academies such as Arsenal, West Ham United and Chelsea, Gabriel signed with Manchester United at age 11.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

In 529, Christians closed the school of Athens— the last link to the academies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

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

---