old school

American  

noun

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

Etymology

Origin of old school

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

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

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

Fan Harry, 21, who works at a Rolling Stones clothing store also in London's Soho district, welcomed the snippets of the new material that he had heard, calling it "very old school".

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026

For dinner, I went old school at À La Renaissance, a century-old, recently revived bistro with chunky terrazzo floors and burgundy banquettes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

My younger brother is like, “Hey, man, I just went in for a test, and they’re telling me I got to have an old school triple bypass,” and then that’s what we all get tested.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026

“You seem like a hard worker. At my old school, I was the one who always ended up doing all the work.”

From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine