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lycée

American  
[lee-sey] / liˈseɪ /

noun

lycées plural
  1. a secondary school, especially in France, maintained by the government.


lycée British  
/ lise, ˈliːseɪ /

noun

  1. a secondary school

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of lycée

1860–65; < French < Latin lycēum lyceum

Explanation

A lycee is a high school, particularly one where French is spoken. Before you enroll at the Sorbonne, you need to graduate from your lycee! In France, the lycee (or in French, lycée) is the final part of a student's secondary, pre-college education. Generally this means grades 9 through 12, or the equivalent of high school in the U.S. If you attend an American lycee, it is usually a French immersion school, or one that mixes the use of English and French. Lycee derives from the Greek lykeion, an ancient Athenian grove where Aristotle taught.

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Vocabulary lists containing lycee

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.

See Examples For:

Mr. Poncins was there to begin tutoring Gabrielle de Lambilly, one of Ms. de Lambilly’s five sisters and an eighth grade student at a French lycée in London.

From New York Times Apr. 24, 2020

Lie With Me, which was a No 1 bestseller in France, follows a first love between two teenage boys, Besson and Thomas Andrieux, a fellow pupil at his lycée in the Charente in south-west France.

From The Guardian Aug. 18, 2019

Jarry’s play was developed from sketches assembled by a conspiracy of his fellow students at a French lycée, devoted to the portrayal of their pompous physics teacher as a bizarre zoological specimen.

From New York Times Jul. 23, 2015

Her father was a university professor and Lagarde – who has three younger brothers – grew up in a disciplined yet loving environment, studying at the lycée in Le Havre.

From Slate Dec. 10, 2011

He so perplexed and annoyed his superiors that they were on the eve of expelling him, when a new master came to the lycée from Paris, and all was changed.

From France in the Nineteenth Century by Latimer, Elizabeth

Secondary schools and lycées in green areas will be able to resume all classes from 2 June, but must follow health measures, such a maximum of 15 pupils per class.

From The Guardian May 28, 2020

Ms. Stern said she attended one of the lycées created by Napoleon.

From New York Times Jul. 10, 2015

He dismissed corrupt officials and, in order to provide the government with trained officials, set up lycées, or government-run public schools.

From Textbooks Jan. 1, 2012

These lycées were open to male students of all backgrounds.

From Textbooks Jan. 1, 2012

State high schools, or lycées, for girls have existed since 1880.

From The Modern Woman's Rights Movement A Historical Survey by Schirmacher, Kaethe

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