Library / English Dictionary

SCHOOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A building where young people receive education

Example:

he walked to school every morning

Synonyms:

school; schoolhouse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

building; edifice (a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place)

Meronyms (parts of "school"):

classroom; schoolroom (a room in a school where lessons take place)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "school"):

conservatoire; conservatory (a schoolhouse with special facilities for fine arts)

day school (a school building without boarding facilities)

Holonyms ("school" is a part of...):

school system (establishment including the plant and equipment for providing education from kindergarten through high school)

Derivation:

scholastic (of or relating to schools)

school (educate in or as if in a school)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The process of being formally educated at a school

Example:

what will you do when you finish school?

Synonyms:

school; schooling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

education (the gradual process of acquiring knowledge)

Derivation:

scholastic (of or relating to schools)

school (educate in or as if in a school)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A large group of fish

Example:

a school of small glittering fish swam by

Synonyms:

school; shoal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

animal group (a group of animals)

Meronyms (members of "school"):

fish (any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills)

Derivation:

school (swim in or form a large group of fish)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A body of creative artists or writers or thinkers linked by a similar style or by similar teachers

Example:

the Venetian school of painting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

body (a group of persons associated by some common tie or occupation and regarded as an entity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "school"):

Ashcan School; Eight (a group of United States painters founded in 1907 and noted for their realistic depictions of sordid aspects of city life)

deconstructivism (a school of architecture based on the philosophical theory of deconstruction)

historical school (a school of 19th century German economists and legal philosophers who tried to explain modern economic systems in evolutionary or historical terms)

pointillism (a school of painters who used a technique of painting with tiny dots of pure colors that would blend in the viewer's eye; developed by Georges Seurat and his followers late in 19th century France)

art nouveau (a French school of art and architecture popular in the 1890s; characterized by stylized natural forms and sinuous outlines of such objects as leaves and vines and flowers)

lake poets (English poets at the beginning of the 19th century who lived in the Lake District and were inspired by it)

secession; sezession (an Austrian school of art and architecture parallel to the French art nouveau in the 1890s)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An educational institution

Example:

the school was founded in 1900

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

educational institution (an institution dedicated to education)

Meronyms (members of "school"):

school teacher; schoolteacher (a teacher in a school below the college level)

faculty; staff (the body of teachers and administrators at a school)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "school"):

secretarial school (a school where secretarial skills (typing and shorthand and filing etc) are taught)

tech; technical school (a school teaching mechanical and industrial arts and the applied sciences)

training school (a school providing practical vocational and technical training)

veterinary school (a school teaching veterinary medicine)

conservatory (the faculty and students of a school specializing in one of the fine arts)

alma mater (your alma mater is a school you graduated from)

public school (a tuition free school in the United States supported by taxes and controlled by a school board)

private school (a school established and controlled privately and supported by endowment and tuition)

dance school (a school where students are taught to dance)

day school (a school giving instruction during the daytime)

night school (a school that holds classes in the evenings for students who cannot attend during the day)

Sabbath school; Sunday school (school meeting on Sundays for religious instruction)

elementary school; grade school; grammar school; primary school (a school for young children; usually the first 6 or 8 grades)

Gymnasium; lycee; lyceum; middle school; secondary school (a school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12)

riding school (a school where horsemanship is taught and practiced)

religious school (a school run by a religious body)

nursing school; school of nursing (a school for training nurses)

language school (a school for teaching foreign languages)

grad school; graduate school (a school in a university offering study leading to degrees beyond the bachelor's degree)

flying school (a school for teaching students to fly airplanes)

finishing school (a private school for girls that emphasizes training in cultural and social activities)

driving school (a school where people are taught to drive automobiles)

direct-grant school (formerly a school that charged tuition fees and also received government grants in return for admitting certain non-paying students who were nominated by the local authorities)

dancing school (a school in which students learn to dance)

crammer (a special school where students are crammed)

correspondence school (a school that teaches nonresident students by mail)

academy (a school for special training)

Derivation:

scholastic (of or relating to schools)

school (educate in or as if in a school)

Sense 6

Meaning:

An educational institution's faculty and students

Example:

the whole school turned out for the game

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

educational institution (an institution dedicated to education)

Derivation:

scholastic (of or relating to schools)

school (educate in or as if in a school)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The period of instruction in a school; the time period when school is in session

Example:

when the school day was done we would walk home together

Synonyms:

school; school day; schooltime

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("school" is a kind of...):

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Meronyms (parts of "school"):

study hall (a period of time during the school day that is set aside for study)

Derivation:

school (educate in or as if in a school)

scholastic (of or relating to schools)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Swim in or form a large group of fish

Example:

A cluster of schooling fish was attracted to the bait

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "school" is one way to...):

swim (travel through water)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

school (a large group of fish)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Educate in or as if in a school

Example:

The children are schooled at great cost to their parents in private institutions

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "school" is one way to...):

educate (give an education to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "school"):

home-school (educate (one's children) at home instead of sending (them) to a school)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

school (a building where young people receive education)

school (the process of being formally educated at a school)

school (an educational institution)

school (an educational institution's faculty and students)

school (the period of instruction in a school; the time period when school is in session)

schooling (the act of teaching at school)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment

Example:

She is well schooled in poetry

Synonyms:

civilise; civilize; cultivate; educate; school; train

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "school" is one way to...):

down; fine-tune; polish; refine (improve or perfect by pruning or polishing)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "school"):

sophisticate (make less natural or innocent)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

Steerforth's place was at the bottom of the school, at the opposite end of the long room.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The mother was angry at this, but she answered, “Yes, when he comes out of school.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

His school of life had been sterner, and he was himself of sterner stuff.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He was two years my elder, however, so that, long before I had finished my schooling, he had gone to help his uncle at the smithy.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you work or go to school, you want to know that your child is in good hands while you are away.

(Child Care, NIH)

He had not seen me then above twice, for it was before I left school.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband’s trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Methinks a company of school lads could hold this place against an army,” quoth John.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You see that it runs east and west past the school, and you see also that there is no side road for a mile either way.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A member of the same class at school.

(Classmate, NCI Thesaurus)