Dictionary

ivory tower en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊɚ/ (US)
• (US) audio
• /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Calque of French tour d'ivoire, based on a biblical phrase, coined by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve to compare the poet Alfred de Vigny (more isolated) with Victor Hugo (more socially engaged). First attested in English in a translation of Laughter by French philosopher Henri Bergson (1911). The term was popularized in The Ivory Tower (1917) by Henry James, though used in different sense (millionaires, not professors).

Meanings

1. Separated from reality and practical matters; overly academic.
   • I must say that, with all due respect, I think that's a very ivory tower approach. 1995, Hearings relating to Madison Guaranty S&L and the Whitewater Development Corporation, Washington, DC phase, page 504:
   • The majority of librarians appear to have shown a very ivory tower approach to the application of all types of management technique to librarianship. 1968, New Library World, volumes 69-70, page 8:
   • Griswold was perhaps the most ivory tower president of Yale in the twentieth century, and in many ways the university turned toward conservatism in the decade after his inauguration, in 1950. 2004, Geoffrey Kabaservice, The Guardians, page 154:
   • Bob Woodruff, an anchor and correspondent for ABC News who arrived in New Orleans the Wednesday after the storm hit, calls the detached-observer ideal "a very ivory tower notion that's not practiced in the field." 2007, Joan Gorham, Annual Editions: Mass Media 07/08, page 158:

Forms

Relateds

cloisterism · armchair

wikipedia: ivory tower · wikipedia: Alfred de Vigny · wikipedia: Henri Bergson · wikipedia: Laughter (book) · wikipedia: Henry James · wikipedia: Victor Hugo · wikipedia: The Ivory Tower · wikipedia: Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

ivory tower en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊɚ/ (US)
• (US) audio
• /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Calque of French tour d'ivoire, based on a biblical phrase, coined by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve to compare the poet Alfred de Vigny (more isolated) with Victor Hugo (more socially engaged). First attested in English in a translation of Laughter by French philosopher Henri Bergson (1911). The term was popularized in The Ivory Tower (1917) by Henry James, though used in different sense (millionaires, not professors).

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) A sheltered, overly-academic existence or perspective, implying a disconnection or lack of awareness of reality or practical considerations.
   • Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete. 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020:
   • Hamilton College is an ivory tower with an open bar, and so I - who work and play equally hard - have come to love this place, and have been dead-set against leaving it. 2005, Daniel Walker, Valedictory speech for Hamilton College:
   • Such a proposal looks fine from an ivory tower, but it could never work in real life.

Forms

Deriveds

ivory-towered · ivory-towerism · ivory-towerist

Translations (35)

cs slonovinová věž (overly-academic perspective) · it torre d'avorio (overly-academic perspective) · ko 상아탑 (overly-academic perspective) · nb elfenbenstårn (overly-academic perspective) · cmn 象牙塔 (overly-academic perspective) · id menara gading (overly-academic perspective) · fo fílabeinstorn (overly-academic perspective) · sv elfenbenstorn (overly-academic perspective) · eo eburturo (overly-academic perspective) · ja 象牙の塔 (overly-academic perspective) · it torre eburnea (overly-academic perspective) · ru ба́шня из слоно́вой ко́сти (overly-academic perspective) · nl ivoren toren (overly-academic perspective) · es torre de marfil (overly-academic perspective) · da elfenbenstårn (overly-academic perspective) · fr tour d'ivoire (overly-academic perspective) · tr fildişi kule (overly-academic perspective) · th หอคอยงาช้าง (overly-academic perspective) · pt torre de marfim (overly-academic perspective) · ms menara gading (overly-academic perspective) · io ivora turmo (overly-academic perspective) · uk вежа зі слонової кістки (overly-academic perspective) · pl wieża z kości słoniowej (overly-academic perspective) · cy tŵr ifori (overly-academic perspective) · de Elfenbeinturm (overly-academic perspective) · nn elfenbeinstårn (overly-academic perspective) · ia turre eboree (overly-academic perspective) · la turris eburnea (overly-academic perspective) · sl slonokoščeni stolp (overly-academic perspective) · nb elfenbeinstårn (overly-academic perspective) · vi tháp ngà (overly-academic perspective) · is fílabeinsturn (overly-academic perspective) · uk ве́жа із слоно́вої кі́стки (overly-academic perspective) · hu elefántcsonttorony (overly-academic perspective) · fi norsunluutorni (overly-academic perspective)

wikipedia: ivory tower · wikipedia: Alfred de Vigny · wikipedia: Henri Bergson · wikipedia: Laughter (book) · wikipedia: Henry James · wikipedia: Victor Hugo · wikipedia: The Ivory Tower · wikipedia: Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve