school

SKOOL/skuːl/

Pluralschools

Verbschools, schooling, schooled

15 meanings of school

Practice

1
where kids learnnouncountable or uncountable
An institution where children and young people receive primary or secondary education; in the US and Canada, also any place of education, including a college or university.
Our daughter walks to school with her friends every morning.
Most British schools require pupils to wear a uniform.
UsageNo article for the usual activity: go to school, at school. The school points to the building or one particular school.
Note
British usage draws the line at university. Here school covers only the primary and secondary years, so a student who goes on to university has left school rather than moved to another one. That is the clearest split with North American usage, where a university counts as a school too. Across the Atlantic, the same question about where someone went to school asks about different years.
2
daily lessonsnouncountable or uncountable
The hours during which classes are held at a school or other place of education.
School lets out at three in the afternoon.
He overslept and missed the first hour of school.
UsageNo article: after school, before school, school starts at eight.
Similarclass, classes, lessons
3
nouncountable or uncountable
An establishment offering instruction in a specialized skill, such as driving, cooking, or coding.
The coding school promises job placement after graduation.
He enrolled in a flight school to earn his pilot's license.
Similaracademy, institute, college, bootcamp
4
university departmentnouncountable or uncountable
A division within a larger institution, such as a department or institute, devoted to one subject area.
He was admitted to the school of law this fall.
The university merged two schools into a single faculty.
Similardepartment, faculty, institute, college
5
way of thinkingnouncountable or uncountable
A group of thinkers, writers, or artists who share the same ideas, methods, or style, or the tradition they form.
The behaviorist school dominated psychology for decades.
Two rival schools of interpretation argued for centuries over the ancient text.
UsageCommon frames: a school of thought, belong to the realist school.
Similarmovement, tradition, camp
Note
Taken collectively, the word names a whole body of followers or a whole tradition at once: the monetarist school, a school of thought. The use is old. Jeremy Taylor in 1660 writes of the "several Schools of Christians" who differ over a sacrament.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Taylor's quoted use dates to 1660, the first-publication year of The Worthy Communicant. natlib.govt.nz
Jeremy Taylor uses the quoted phrase for Christian groups differing about the sacrament. anglicanhistory.org
6
verbtransitive
To educate, teach, or train someone, whether or not in a formal institution.
Her grandmother schooled her in the old family recipes over many summers.
Experienced mentors school new recruits in the basics of the trade.
UsageOften school someone in a skill: schooled in the basics.
Similartrain, teach, educate, coach, instruct

Less common meanings

7
fish groupnouncollectivecountable
A group of fish, or of marine mammals such as dolphins or whales, moving together.
A school of herring darted away from the circling shark.
Fishermen spotted several schools moving along the coast.
UsageUsed as a school of fish or dolphins; shoal means much the same.
Similarshoal
Note
A different word altogether, unrelated to the classroom word and its Greek "leisure." This school came from Middle Dutch scole, "multitude, troop, swarm of animals," which goes back to a Germanic word for "crowd." The two simply met in one spelling. Shoal is its close synonym, and both are used for mackerel, herring and other fish moving together.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
The animal-group word has a different origin from the educational word, despite their shared spelling. en.wiktionary.org
The educational word ultimately derives from Greek scholē, meaning leisure. en.wikipedia.org
The animal-group word derives from Middle Dutch scole, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
The Middle Dutch word has Germanic ancestry with the sense of a crowd or group. en.wiktionary.org
The two historically distinct words share the modern spelling school. en.wiktionary.org
8
pupils and staffnouncountable
All the pupils and teachers of an educational institution, considered together as a single group.
The entire school gathered in the gym for a moment of silence.
News of the coach's retirement spread through the school by lunchtime.
UsageUsually the whole school or the entire school. British English also allows a plural verb: the whole school were told.
9
verbcolloquialtransitive
To defeat someone decisively, teaching them a harsh lesson.
The champion schooled his challenger in three quick rounds.
Veteran players school rookies who underestimate them.
UsageOften in the get-passive: got schooled by a rookie. Also a taunt: I'm gonna school you.
Similartrounce, thrash, crush, outclass, beat
Note
A competitive turn on the teaching verb: the loser has been taught a lesson they did not want. It also works as a direct taunt, as in Peter David's 2007 novelization of Spider-Man 3: "This time I'm gonna school you." Courtrooms, football fields and public arguments all take it.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Peter David wrote the Spider-Man 3 novelization, published in 2007. en.wikipedia.org
The quoted taunt occurs in that novelization. en.wiktionary.org
10
swim togetherverbintransitive
To gather into or move together as a group, as fish or marine mammals do.
Herring school in vast numbers off the coast each spring.
The young tuna began schooling shortly after dawn.
Similarshoal, congregate, gather, swarm, group
Oppositescatter, disperse
11
nouncountable
A great number of people or things gathered together; a multitude.
Similarcrowd, throng, multitude, horde, host
12
nouncountable or uncountable
The body of accepted opinion, rules, or practice approved by the authority of a particular class or period.
She was a teacher of the old school, strict but always fair.
Her taste in furniture is very much of the old school: dark wood, lace, and nothing plastic.
UsageSet phrase: of the old school, as in a teacher of the old school.
Similarcode, canon, convention
Note
The phrase to know is of the old school: a gentleman of the old school keeps to the standards of an earlier age. The freer use, with the schools standing for accepted canons of taste, appears in Arthur Sherburne Hardy's But Yet a Woman (1883). There a face is "not handsome after the schools," meaning handsome by no approved rule.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Arthur Sherburne Hardy wrote But Yet a Woman. en.wikisource.org
But Yet a Woman was first published in 1883. upload.wikimedia.org
The novel describes a face using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
13
compose (face)verbtransitive
To control or compose one's facial expression, voice, or feelings.
He schooled his features into a polite smile.
Diplomats learn to school their expressions during tense talks.
UsageUsually with features or expression: school your features into a smile.
Similarcompose, control, discipline, arrange
14
nounUK
Any one teaching period in the Eton College timetable.
15
noun
At English universities, the hall or room in which degree and honors examinations are taken.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of school apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–6, 8–9, 12–13

'School' comes from Middle English scole and Old English scōl, 'a place of education', which goes back through Proto-West Germanic to Late Latin schola ('lecture, learned discussion, school') and ultimately to Ancient Greek skholḗ ('spare time, leisure'), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to hold, have, possess'. It is related to Dutch school and German Schule, and some of its senses were influenced by a Middle English word meaning 'group of persons'.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 8 facts

School descends from Middle English scole and Old English scōl, meaning a place of education. en.wiktionary.org
The descent passes through Proto-West Germanic, which borrowed the word from Latin. en.wiktionary.org
The Latin word had meanings including lecture, learned discussion and school. en.wiktionary.org
Latin schola was borrowed from Ancient Greek skholḗ. en.wiktionary.org
Ancient Greek skholḗ meant leisure or free time. en.wiktionary.org
The Greek word ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *seǵʰ-, meaning to hold, have or possess. en.wiktionary.org
English school is etymologically related to Dutch school and German Schule. en.wikisource.org
Some senses were influenced by Middle English schole, meaning a group of people. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 7, 10–11

In the sense of a group of fish, 'school' comes from Middle English scole ('multitude, host, school of fish'), from Middle Dutch scole ('troop of people, swarm of animals'), tracing back through Old Dutch and Proto-West Germanic *skulu ('troop, group') to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'crowd, people'. It is a doublet of 'shoal'.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

The fish sense derives from Middle English scole, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
The Middle English word derives from Middle Dutch scole, meaning a troop of people or swarm of animals. en.wiktionary.org
The word ultimately traces to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning crowd or people. en.wiktionary.org
School in the fish sense is a doublet of shoal. en.wiktionary.org