seminary
Americannoun
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a special school providing education in theology, religious history, etc., primarily to prepare students for the priesthood, ministry, or rabbinate.
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a school, especially one of higher grade.
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a school of secondary or higher level for young women.
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a place of origin and propagation.
a seminary of discontent.
noun
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an academy for the training of priests, rabbis, etc
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another word for seminar
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a place where something is grown
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of seminary
1400–50; late Middle English: seed plot, nursery < Latin sēminārium, equivalent to sēmin- (stem of sēmen ) seed, semen + -ārium -ary
Explanation
What do ministers, priests, rabbis, and children have in common? They all might attend a school that has the word seminary in its name. A seminary is a school, especially one where people train to be religious leaders. Seminary comes from the Latin word seminarium, meaning "plant nursery," which can be interpreted as, "breeding ground." Like a greenhouse that provides ideal conditions for seeds to grow into hearty plants, a seminary was first a place for young men to become priests. Seminary typically describes religious institutions but it can apply to nonreligious schools as well.
Vocabulary lists containing seminary
The Alchemist
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Lyddie
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Chapter 20: Renaissance and Reformation
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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.
See Examples For:
The new consecrations are set to take place near the society's seminary in Econe, a village in the Rhone valley in Alpine southwest Switzerland, at the foot of the mountains.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
The winner Talarico, who has a Master of Divinity degree from a Christian seminary, offered a more genteel approach.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
He left before completing seminary, joining the civil rights movement full time.
From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2026
“I am looking forward to the silence finally stopping, because 54 years of silence is a long time,” said Bishop Kassianos of Aravissos, the abbot of the seminary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
Johannes Kepler was born in Germany in 1571 and sent as a boy to the Protestant seminary school in the provincial town of Maulbronn to be educated for the clergy.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
A senior cleric from Najaf's Shia seminaries then led the funeral prayers.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Most of them reside and run seminaries in the holy cities of Qom in Iran and Najaf in Iraq.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026
He began his religious instruction at 4 and continued his studies at the revered hawza, a network of illustrious seminaries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026
It also lowers enlistment quotas and facilitates exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men who study in religious seminaries known as yeshivas.
From Barron's ● Nov. 29, 2025
All the great seminaries differ in their lists; the choice depends on the personal taste of the masters from time to time; and there is a certain virtue in traditional names.
From Schools, School-Books and Schoolmasters by Hazlitt, W. Carew
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.
