ivory tower

noun

1. a place or situation remote from worldly or practical affairs.

   the university as an ivory tower.

2. an attitude of aloofness from or disdain or disregard for worldly or practical affairs.

   his ivory tower of complacency.

ivory tower

/ ˈtaʊə /

noun

1. 1. seclusion or remoteness of attitude regarding real problems, everyday life, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      ivory-tower aestheticism

Other Word Forms

• ivory-towered adjective
• ivory-towerish adjective
• ivory-towerism noun
• ivorytowerishness noun
• ivory-towerist noun
• ivory-towerite noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ivory tower¹

Translation of French tour d'ivoire, phrase used by C.A. Sainte-Beuve in reference to the isolated life of the poet A. de Vigny (1837)

Idioms and Phrases

A place or attitude of retreat, remoteness from everyday affairs, as in What does the professor know about student life, living as he does in an ivory tower? This term is a translation of the French tour d'ivoire, which the critic Saint-Beuve used to describe the attitude of poet Alfred de Vigny in 1837. It is used most often in reference to intellectuals and artists who remain complacently aloof.

Example Sentences

One source described the prime minister as a "top-down ivory tower leader" – a common refrain from some Labour politicians who think Sir Keir lacks a proper grasp.

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Another said the prime minister is a "top-down ivory tower leader" who is late to react to early warning signs like Caerphilly.

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They’re not coming down from the ivory tower like the doctors.

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Is “Homework” about a child who took a remarkably frictionless path, aided by a nation that had invested in civic institutions, from monetary hardship to the ivory tower?

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The walls of the ivory tower have been breached, regardless of whether one believes it is the barbarians - or liberators - at the gate.

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