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Synonyms

blackboard jungle

American  

noun

Informal.
  1. a school or school system characterized by lack of discipline and by juvenile delinquency.


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.

Clearly, discussions of Clark's approach to taming the blackboard jungle run high with emotion.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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

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

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