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

"This is partly down to the heatwave and partly down to breaking down old school wine myths."

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Is time for a more old school, and spontaneous, connection?

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

I have been married over 40 years, and we are old school.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026

Macofsky adds, “It feels very old school the way women have to go through things.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026

Celibidache was a conductor from the old school, an imperious and strong-willed man with very definite ideas about how music ought to be played—and about who ought to play music.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell