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finishing school

See more synonyms for finishing school on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a private school, usually at the high-school or junior-college level, that teaches young women social graces and prepares them for life in society.
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Origin of finishing school

First recorded in 1830–40
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for finishing school

Historical Examples

  • By this time Julia had grown up and was beginning at finishing-school.

    In a Little Town

    Rupert Hughes

  • I did not seek in a wife the accomplishments of a finishing-school teacher.

    A Strange Story, Complete

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  • She had not learned that sort of French in her finishing-school.

    The Woman-Hater

    Charles Reade

  • When father and mother come back I shall be only sixteen; it will be time enough then to go to a finishing-school.

  • The finishing-school was brandished again, but, after a private consultation on finance, put aside by the rector and Mrs. Hutting.

    Double Harness

    Anthony Hope

British Dictionary definitions for finishing school

finishing school

noun
  1. a private school for girls that prepares them for society by teaching social graces and accomplishments
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012