Dictionary

grammar school en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gramere scole.

Meanings

1. (archaic, countable, uncountable) A school that teaches its pupils the grammar system of a European language, especially Latin and Greek.
2. (UK, countable, uncountable) A secondary school that stresses academic over practical or vocational education, until recent times open to those pupils who had passed the 11-plus examination.
   • Bradshaw eulogises again about "considerable manufactures of woollen cloth", plus the "excellent grammar school, founded by Edward VI". 2022 October 5, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: Reading to Southampton: Frome”, in RAIL, number 967, page 56:
   • The largest building at one end, now used as a church hall, was originally the village's one-roomed grammar school, also endowed by the Lumleys. 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 382, about Thornton Dale:
   • It is a world where grammar school is the only way up, but at the cost of subjugation to educational tyranny and eventual estrangement from the family that was once so "proud" of your achievements. 2008 July 12, John Mullan, “Where are they now?”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2013:
3. (US, countable, rare, regional, uncountable) Elementary school.

Forms

Deriveds

direct grant grammar school

Relateds

secondary modern school · Latin grammar school · comprehensive school

Synonyms

grammar

Translations (15)

sk gymnázium (secondary school that stresses academic education) · tr lise (secondary school that stresses academic education) · cmn 文法學校 /文法学校 (secondary school that stresses academic education) · it liceo classico (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · de Gymnasium (secondary school that stresses academic education) · fi klassinen lukio (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · cmn 文法學校 /文法学校 (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · ga scoil ghramadaí (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · cs gymnázium (secondary school that stresses academic education) · pl szkoła gramatyki (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · nl gymnasium (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · enm gramere scole (school that teaches the grammar system of Latin or Greek) · pl liceum ogólnokształcące (secondary school that stresses academic education) · fi lukio (secondary school that stresses academic education) · hu gimnázium (secondary school that stresses academic education)