reform school
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of reform school
An Americanism dating back to 1855–60
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.
The actor stars alongside Tracey Ullman and Emily Watson in a film that follows the weary employees and difficult students of an English reform school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, Nickel Boys follows the powerful friendship between two men navigating a brutal reform school together in Florida.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2024
Certainly, there could have been a more straightforward adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s acclaimed novel about the friendship between two Black boys at a brutal Florida reform school in the early 1960s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2024
Keep in mind I had worked in a reform school for girls!
From Slate ● Apr. 4, 2024
Hazel grew up—did four years in grammar school, four years in reform school, and didn’t learn anything in either place.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
