Synonyms

old school

American

noun

advocates or supporters of established custom or of conservatism.

a military man of the old school.

old school British

noun

a school formerly attended by a person
a group of people favouring traditional ideas or conservative practices

"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

Derived Forms

old-school

adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

old schools

plural

Etymology

Origin of old school

First recorded in 1790–1800

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:

old school

Amaineh Nademi walks carefully through what is left of her old school.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

“If you want old school software that actually doesn’t work, and probably will disappear, there are a lot of names.”

From Barron's ● May 6, 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

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023