school

¹ American  

[skool] / skul /

noun

1. an institution where instruction is given, especially to persons under college age.

   The children are at school.

2. an institution for instruction in a particular skill or field.

3. a college or university.

4. a regular course of meetings of a teacher or teachers and students for instruction; program of instruction.

   summer school.

5. a session of such a course.

   no school today; to be kept after school.

6. the activity or process of learning under instruction, especially at a school for the young.

   As a child, I never liked school.

7. one's formal education.

   They plan to be married when he finishes school.

8. a building housing a school.

9. the body of students, or students and teachers, belonging to an educational institution.

   The entire school rose when the principal entered the auditorium.

10. a building, room, etc., in a university, set apart for the use of one of the faculties or for some particular purpose.

    the school of agriculture.

11. a particular faculty or department of a university having the right to recommend candidates for degrees, and usually beginning its program of instruction after the student has completed general education.

    medical school.

12. any place, situation, etc., tending to teach anything.

13. the body of pupils or followers of a master, system, method, etc..

    the Platonic school of philosophy.

14. Art.

    1. a group of artists, as painters, writers, or musicians, whose works reflect a common conceptual, regional, or personal influence.

       the modern school; the Florentine school.

    2. the art and artists of a geographical location considered independently of stylistic similarity.

       the French school.

15. any group of persons having common attitudes or beliefs.

16. Military, Navy. parts of close-order drill applying to the individual school of the soldier, the squad school of the squad, or the like.

17. Australian and New Zealand Informal. a group of people gathered together, especially for gambling or drinking.

18. Archaic. schools, the faculties of a university.

19. Obsolete. the schoolmen in a medieval university.

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adjective

1. of or connected with a school or schools.

2. Obsolete. of the schoolmen.

verb (used with object)

1. to educate in or as if in a school; teach; train.

2. Archaic. to reprimand.

idioms

1. school of thought. school of thought.

2. school of hard knocks. school of hard knocks.

school ² American  

[skool] / skul /

noun

1. a large number of fish, porpoises, whales, or the like, feeding or migrating together.

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verb (used without object)

1. to form into, or go in, a school, as fish.

school ¹ British  

/ skuːl /

noun

1. 1. an institution or building at which children and young people usually under 19 receive education

   2. ( as modifier )

      school bus

      school day

   3. ( in combination )

      schoolroom

      schoolwork

2. any educational institution or building

3. a faculty, institution, or department specializing in a particular subject

   a law school

4. the staff and pupils of a school

5. the period of instruction in a school or one session of this

   he stayed after school to do extra work

6. meetings held occasionally for members of a profession, etc

7. a place or sphere of activity that instructs

   the school of hard knocks

8. a body of people or pupils adhering to a certain set of principles, doctrines, or methods

9. a group of artists, writers, etc, linked by the same style, teachers, or aims

   the Venetian school of painting

10. a style of life

    a gentleman of the old school

11. informal a group assembled for a common purpose, esp gambling or drinking

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verb

1. to train or educate in or as in a school

2. to discipline or control

3. an archaic word for reprimand

school ² British  

/ skuːl /

noun

1. a group of porpoises or similar aquatic animals that swim together

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verb

1. (intr) to form such a group

school More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing school

• tell tales (out of school)

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Other Word Forms

• schoolable adjective
• schoolless adjective
• schoollike adjective

Etymology

Origin of school¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun scol(e), schole, Old English scōl, scolu, from Latin schola, from Greek scholḗ “leisure employed in learning”

Origin of school²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English schol(e), sculle, from Middle Dutch schōle “flock (of animals),” Dutch school “shoal (of fish)”; cognate with Old English scolu “troop”; shoal ²

Explanation

School is the place you go to learn, and the place you escape from when you play hooky. When you school someone, it means you’ve educated or put that person in his or her place. School has its roots in the Greek skhole. That word originally had the sense of “leisure,” which evolved into a “place for discussion,” so you can see how school came to have its modern meaning. School, as in "school of thought," can describe a group of people bonded together by shared principles. The phrase "school of hard knocks" is slang for “rough experience in life.” School also refers to a large group of fish that swim together.

Example Sentences

“He left when I was asleep. So one day I was at school, and I played sick. So I told my teacher my stomach was hurting.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

Seventy boys from Glantaf school in Cardiff were told they would be singing at the unveiling of the new statue.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

She was a more experienced writer who had no obvious reason to take an interest in someone who’d decided, against the advice of his high school English teacher, to do the same.

From Slate • Apr. 12, 2026

Izzo initially allowed it but then refused more, fearing the effect of being around many graves on Ikhlass’s kids, who were living with her and Izzo in the school.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

She must have picked up more learning at high school than we’d figured.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• academy
• department
• faculty
• hall
• institute
• institution
• seminary
• university