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Synonyms

secondary school

American  

noun

  1. a high school or a school of corresponding grade, ranking between a primary school and a college or university.

secondary school British  

noun

  1. a school for young people, usually between the ages of 11 and 18

"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

Other Word Forms

  • secondary-school adjective

Etymology

Origin of secondary school

First recorded in 1825–35

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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 secondary school was briefly placed on lockdown before the pursuit continued.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

The proposed tests would aim to check pupils' progress two years into secondary school.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

"We named it after my secondary school physics teacher," says Ewan Bodenham, PhD student at the Natural History Museum London and UCL, lead author of the new paper.

From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2026

United Teachers Los Angeles represents more than 30,000 classroom teachers, psychologists, attendance counselors, guidance counselors, nurses and secondary school librarians.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026

He’d have to take the exam, of course, but then he planned to start secondary school right here in the Sunderbans, on a neighboring island that was just a quick ferry ride away.

From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins

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.