residential school

American  

[rez-i-den-shuhl skool, rez-i-den-shuhl skool] / ˌrɛz ɪˈdɛn ʃəl ˌskul, ˈrɛz ɪˌdɛn ʃəl ˈskul /

noun

1. a boarding school, especially one for delinquent or disabled children or youth.

   They recommended placing our daughter in a residential school for troubled teens.

2. (formerly) one of a network of boarding schools in Canada for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students, typically founded and operated by a church or religious order and eventually receiving partial or full funding by the federal government.

---

residential school British  

noun

1. (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements

---

Etymology

Origin of residential school

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

residential school

“Sugarcane,” a sobering community portrait directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, tracks the fallout from the Roman Catholic Church’s residential school for Indigenous children in Canada by tracing generational trauma.

From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2024

Numerous Native Canadians and Native Americans have also reached the NHL ranks, from Fred Sasakamoose — forced into a residential school at age 7 — debuting with Chicago in 1953, to Stanwood’s own T.J.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2023

Ms Clayton, a residential school survivor herself, said the return of the pole feels like its own form of reconciliation.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2023

In Canada, we call it the residential school system.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2023

But the child in the residential school knows little of all this, has little occasion to know.

From Five Lectures on Blindness by Foley, Kate M.