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.
Only four years ago, Washington High would have matched most people's Hollywood image of the blackboard jungle.
From Time Magazine Archive
This fall, divorced and shy of cash, she nervously switched the girls to what is supposed to be a "blackboard jungle" junior high school on the upper West Side.
From Time Magazine Archive
A British expedition into the blackboard jungle, with Sidney Poitier investing subtle warmth into the part 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
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
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.
