college

American  

[kol-ij] / ˈkɒl ɪdʒ /

noun

1. an institution of higher learning, especially one providing a general or liberal arts education rather than technical or professional training.

2. a constituent unit of a university, furnishing courses of instruction in the liberal arts and sciences, usually leading to a bachelor's degree.

3. an institution for vocational, technical, or professional instruction, as in medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, or music, often a part of a university.

4. an endowed, self-governing association of scholars incorporated within a university, as at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England.

5. a similar corporation outside a university.

6. the building or buildings occupied by an institution of higher education.

7. the administrators, faculty, and students of a college.

8. (in Britain and Canada) a private secondary school.

9. an organized association of persons having certain powers and rights, and performing certain duties or engaged in a particular pursuit.

   The Electoral College formally selects the president.

10. a company; assemblage.

11. Also called collegium.  a body of clergy living together on a foundation for religious service or similar activity.

12. British Slang. a prison.

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college British  

/ ˈkɒlɪdʒ /

noun

1. an institution of higher education; part of a university

2. a school or an institution providing specialized courses or teaching

   a college of music

3. the building or buildings in which a college is housed

4. the staff and students of a college

5. an organized body of persons with specific rights and duties See also Sacred College

   an electoral college

6. a body of clerics living in community and supported by endowment

7. an obsolete slang word for prison

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Other Word Forms

• postcollege noun
• precollege noun
• subcollege noun

Etymology

Origin of college

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Middle French, from Latin collēgium, from col- col- ¹ + lēg-, variant stem of legere “to choose, gather, read” + -ium -ium; colleague

Example Sentences

“I don’t think you necessarily need college anymore,” said Shraman Kar, 19, who left Stanford after completing his freshman year last spring, then raised $4.5 million for his AI video startup Golpo.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

“They had to fight for every out. Mason is clearly the best pitcher in college baseball the first half of the season. We did a good job making him work.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2026

After college, he worked as a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

South Carolina in the Final Four was always going to be a titanic clash of the most towering figures in women’s college basketball.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Of everything we’d worked to attain—from our college schoolbooks, to our Sunday best, to the materials we used for teaching—much of it had been destroyed.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson