Ivy League

American  

noun

1. a group of colleges and universities in the northeastern U.S., consisting of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown, having a reputation for high scholastic achievement and social prestige.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Ivy League colleges or their students and graduates.

Ivy League British  

noun

1. 1. a group of eight universities (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale) that have similar academic and social prestige in the US to Oxford and Cambridge in Britain

   2. ( as modifier )

      an Ivy-League education

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Ivy League Cultural  

1. A group of eight old, distinguished colleges and universities in the East, known for their ivy-covered brick buildings. The members of the Ivy League are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities; Dartmouth College; and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Other Word Forms

• Ivy Leaguer noun

Etymology

Origin of Ivy League

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

The Ivy League student had agreed to meet former classmate Woodward one evening during winter break.

From Los Angeles Times

Since the killings shocked the Ivy League university, some have been sharply critical of how the case was handled.

From The Wall Street Journal

Brown University, one of the one of the oldest higher education institutions in the US, is part of the Ivy League, a group of elite universities in the northeast of the country.

From BBC

Providence police officers were on Hope Street on the Ivy League university’s campus and people should avoid the area, the department said.

From The Wall Street Journal

First, university endowments, in particular those of the Ivy League, have loaded up on PE investments, which served them well until now, when it hasn’t.

From Barron's