public school

noun

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

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

• public-school adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of public school¹

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

“And Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.”

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Panurach and his wife hoped to send their daughter to Anderson, an Upper West Side Manhattan public school that isn’t just any public school.

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CV is a fine public school with a good theater program, but it isn’t exactly an incubator for nepo babies and aspiring stars.

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Stacy Davis Gates, the Chicago Teachers Union president who has presided over the educational failures of Chicago public schools, has been elected to lead the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

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One of his platform proposals is to provide “free childcare,” starting at six weeks of life, while also paying childcare workers “at parity with public school teachers.”

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