seminary
Americannoun
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seminaries
plural
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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
He later joined a seminary in Southern California with the idea of becoming a Catholic priest, and discovered that his first task involved restocking the residence’s vending machine each night—with Fritos, Snickers and Lays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 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
He was straight out of seminary and brimming with new ideas.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city located in the north-east of the country, and studied at seminaries in the city before moving to Qom, the centre of Iran's Shia clerical establishment.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
He studied at religious seminaries in Mashhad before continuing his education in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and the religious centre of Qom.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
They staffed the unelected institutions of the state such as the supreme leader’s office, which grew rapidly in the late 1990s; they honed their knowledge in the more radical seminaries and their own universities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 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
This little book gives the churches, churches building, chapels and stations, secular and regular priests, students in philosophy and theology, seminaries, colleges, etc.
From Donahoe's Magazine, Vol. XV, No. 4, April, 1886 Volume 15 (January 1886 - July 1886) by Various
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