public school

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noun

(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.

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

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Origin of public school

First recorded in 1570–80

OTHER WORDS FROM public school

public-school, adjective

Words nearby public school

public prosecutor, Public Record Office, public relations, public room, public sale, public school, public sector, public servant, public service, public-service corporation, public speaking

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use public school in a sentence

Ninety percent of American students attend public schools, and the crux of educational inequality is in how those schools are funded — primarily by property taxes.
My great-grandmother Ida B. Wells left a legacy of activism in education. We need that now.|Michelle Duster|February 11, 2021|Washington Post
Throughout the fall, while coronavirus ravaged Chicago, the city and the teachers union could not come to an agreement over when and how to reopen the city’s public schools.
Lawsuits, lockouts and strike threats: Fights to reopen classrooms reach a head in several school districts|Moriah Balingit|February 8, 2021|Washington Post
The decision follows criticism in late January from local lawmakers and early-childhood advocates who were upset that those workers were not prioritized for vaccinations ahead of public school staff.
D.C. opens vaccination sign-up times for day-care, charter school workers|Ian Shapira|February 7, 2021|Washington Post
House Bill 60 is a neo-voucher that would allow students who withdraw from a local public school to take state funding with them to use as a scholarship to a private school.
Betsy DeVos is gone — but ‘DeVosism’ sure isn’t. Look at what Florida, New Hampshire and other states are doing.|Valerie Strauss|February 5, 2021|Washington Post

The all-Democratic county council is split over key proposals, most notably a bid to bar police from working in public schools.
In Maryland’s largest suburb, an ambitious police overhaul faces roadblocks|Rebecca Tan, Dan Morse|February 4, 2021|Washington Post
When cities started adding chlorine to their water supplies, in the early 1900s, it set off public outcry.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Not to be left behind, progressives in neighboring Wisconsin clamored to join the cutting edge of public health.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Just the hard-on before you shoot unarmed members of the public.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops|Melissa Leon|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Great American leaders have long contributed profound thoughts of tremendous consequence to the public discourse.
Huckabee 2016: Bend Over and Take It Like a Prisoner!|Olivia Nuzzi|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Saved from the public gallows, Weeks was virtually exiled from the city, and wound up in Mississippi, where he raised a family.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
All my musical studies till now have been a mere going to school, a preparation for him.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
As such it is now presented to the public for whatever meed of praise or censure it is found to deserve.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Five of the number had studied with Liszt before, and the young men are artists already before the public.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Many of these have been seen in the Corcoran Art Gallery and in other public exhibitions.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
I ask for half a dozen projectors or so in every school, and for a well-stocked storehouse of films.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

British Dictionary definitions for public school

public school

noun

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

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

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

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