public school

American  

noun

• public schools
  plural

1. (in the U.S.) a school that is maintained at public expense for the education of the children of a community or district and that constitutes a part of a system of free public education commonly including primary and secondary schools.

2. (in England) any of a number of endowed secondary boarding schools that prepare students chiefly for the universities or for public service.

---

public school British  

noun

1. (in England and Wales) a private independent fee-paying secondary school

2. (in the US) any school that is part of a free local educational system

3. in certin Canadian provinces, a public elementray school as distinguished from a separate school

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• public-school
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• public schools
  plural

Etymology

Origin of public school

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

public school

In addition to government funding it receives as a public school, Scholarship Prep also relies on community partners for donations or services such as food, school supplies and hygiene kits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

The new policy bans student-facing AI usage from preschool through eighth grade, covering about 600,000 students in the nation’s largest public school system.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Over the course of 20 years, students who had attended public school pre-K4 earned higher grades and scored better on standardized tests throughout their school years.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

From public defenders to college professors to public school teachers, people who were fired for social media comments about Kirk have received more than $5 million so far, paid for by taxpayers.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

Five years passed between the Brown decision and the time when the first, very courageous Colored children successfully integrated any Virginia public school.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson