old school

American  

noun

• old schools
  plural

1. advocates or supporters of established custom or of conservatism.

   a military man of the old school.

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old school British  

noun

1. a school formerly attended by a person

2. a group of people favouring traditional ideas or conservative practices

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• old-school
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• old schools
  plural

Etymology

Origin of old school

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

old school

“I’m a little bit of the old school of cultivating regulars and getting people to want to come back to you,” Winterman, the owner of Francie, said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

"It's very old school isn't it? I'm more of an Amazon shopper."

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Deming goes old school to distort Reilly’s focus and bombard him with harsh spotlights.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

The AI wars have brought back old school business rivalries.

From Slate ● Jun. 13, 2026

There are only pictures of him and friends from his old school in Vermont.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti