blackboard jungle
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of blackboard jungle
From the novel of the same name (1954) by American author Evan Hunter (1926–2005), on the model of asphalt jungle;
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.
In the air-conditioned calm of office cubicles, grey-flanneled young Ph.D.s sit sipping coffee and chalking abstruse formulas on a blackboard jungle of schoolmasters' slates.
From Time Magazine Archive
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A British expedition into the blackboard jungle, with Sidney Poitier investing a fine and subtle warmth into the role of a starchy teacher in a slum school.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Whether it is blackboard jungle, red-tape jumble, a place of learning or a collective holding pen for the hapless young, the modern classroom, teachers claim, is out of teachers' control.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The setting for this crime wave is not an inner-city blackboard jungle but suburban Evanston Township High School on Chicago's elm-shaded, affluent North Shore.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Clearly, discussions of Clark's approach to taming the blackboard jungle run high with emotion.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.