coeducational
Americanadjective
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educating the sexes jointly at the same institution or in the same classes.
a coeducational state college.
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of or relating to coeducation.
coeducational programs.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of coeducational
An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; co- + educational
Explanation
Use the adjective coeducational to describe something that includes or allows both boys and girls. A coeducational summer camp, for example, has both male and female campers. Schools that aren't coeducational are known as "single-sex." Many women's colleges have begun admitting men over the years, gradually becoming coeducational. The most common way to use the word is to abbreviate it as "coed" or "co-ed." The adjective coeducational has been around since the 1880's, which is around the same time that many United States colleges and universities, previously open only to men, started accepting female students.
Vocabulary lists containing coeducational
Lyndon B. Johnson on "The Great Society" (1964)
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Lyndon B. Johnson on "The Great Society" (1964), List 1
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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.
Southeast Academy in Norwalk is a public charter school offering a high school education with a military and law enforcement focus to a diverse and coeducational student body.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Generations of wealthy and powerful people have graduated from Mater Dei, which opened in 1950 as the first coeducational parochial school in Orange County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2021
Wajiha Kabuli was 8 years old when she arrived at the coeducational music school from an orphanage that funneled in talented girls.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 10, 2021
The Afghanistan National Institute of Music was a rarity: a coeducational institution devoted to teaching music from both Afghanistan and the West, primarily to students from impoverished backgrounds.
From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2021
That dormitory had once been coeducational, there were still urinals in one of the washrooms on our floor.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
