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school

nounverbnounverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue

  • United Kingdom//skuːl//
  • United Kingdom/[skuːɫ]/
  • United States//skul//
  • United States/[skuɫ]/

An institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution.

noun

  1. 1

    An institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution.

    Our children attend a public school in our neighborhood.

    Harvard University is a famous American postsecondary school.

    Just one more tardy and you'll be staying after school.

  2. 2

    An educational institution providing primary and secondary education, prior to tertiary education (college or university).

  3. 3

    At Eton College, a period or session of teaching.

    Divinity, history and geography are studied for two schools per week.

  4. 4

    Within a larger educational institution, an organizational unit, such as a department or institute, which is dedicated to a specific subject area.

    We are enrolled in the same university, but I attend the School of Economics and my brother is in the School of Music.

  5. 5

    An art movement, a community of artists.

    The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic movement of the time.

  6. 6

    The followers of a particular doctrine; a particular way of thinking or particular doctrine; a school of thought.

    These economists belong to the monetarist school.

    Let no man be leſſe confident in his holy faith […] by reason of any difference of judgement vvhich is in the ſeveral Schools of Chriſtians concerning the effects and conſequent bleſſings of this Sacrament.

    Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.

  7. 7

    The time during which classes are attended or in session in an educational institution.

    I’ll see you after school.

  8. 8

    The room or hall in English universities where the examinations for degrees and honours are held.

  9. 9

    The canons, precepts, or body of opinion or practice, sanctioned by the authority of a particular class or age.

    He was a gentleman of the old school.

    His face pale but striking, though not handsome after the schools.

  10. 10

    An establishment offering specialized instruction, as for driving, cooking, typing, coding, etc.

Etymology

From Middle English scole, from Old English scōl (“place of education”), from Proto-West Germanic *skōlu, from Late Latin schola, scola (“learned discussion or dissertation, lecture, school”), from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “spare time, leisure”), from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold, have, possess”). Doublet of schola and shul. Compare Old Frisian skūle, schūle (“school”) (West Frisian skoalle, Saterland Frisian Skoule), Dutch school (“school”), Low German School (“school”), Old High German scuola (“school”), German Schule (“school”), Old Norse skóli (“school”). Influenced in some senses by Middle English schole (“group of persons, host, company”), from Middle Dutch scole (“multitude, troop, band”). See school (“group”). Related also to Old High German sigi (German Sieg, “victory”), Old English siġe, sigor (“victory”).

verb

  1. 1

    To educate, teach, or train (often, but not necessarily, in a school).

    Many future prime ministers were schooled in Eton.

    I tooke delights / In plucking Apples from t’Heſperian Trees, / Which Eating, I grew Learn’d: adde to All theſe / My Priuate Readings, which more School’d my Soule, / Then Tutors, when they ſternliest did Controll / With Frownes or Rods: […]

  2. 2

    To defeat emphatically, to teach an opponent a harsh lesson.

    A blind law graduate who put the National Conference of Bar Examiners to the test got schooled in federal court.

    Two weeks later, the Cornhuskers put on their road whites again and promptly got schooled by miserable Iowa State in Ames. After the shocking loss […]

    "You again?" Sandman demanded. "I guess you didn't learn your lesson." "This time I'm gonna school you."

    Mr. Harris said he was confident he could go toe to toe with any skeptic; he bragged that he’d recently schooled some crypto haters from Vice News.

  3. 3

    To control, or compose, one’s expression.

    She took care to school her expression, not giving away any of her feelings.

noun

  1. 1

    A group of fish or a group of marine mammals such as porpoises, dolphins, or whales.

    The divers encountered a huge school of mackerel.

  2. 2

    A multitude.

Etymology

From Middle English scole, schole (“group of persons, multitude, host, school of fish”), from Middle Dutch scole (“multitude, troop of people, swarm of animals”), from Old Dutch *scola, *skola (“troop, multitude”), from Proto-West Germanic *skulu (“troop, group”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷel- (“crowd, people”). Cognate with Middle Low German schōle (“multitude, troop”), Old English scolu (“troop or band of people, host, multitude, school of fish”). Doublet of shoal.

verb

  1. 1

    To form into, or travel in, a school.

    School with other fish: you’re less likely to be eaten.

Forms

plural
schools
past tense
schooled
past participle
schooled
present participle
schooling
third person singular
schools
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).