DictionaryAI

university

noun
Sayyoo-ni-VUR-si-tee/junɪˈvɝsəti//junɪˈvɜːsəti/

Pluraluniversities

2 meanings of university

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable or uncountable
    An institution of higher education where students study subjects in depth, advanced research is carried out, and degrees are awarded.

    The university admitted a record number of students this fall.

    After graduating, she returned to the university to teach physics.

    UsageA university (not incorrect: an university). In British English it often drops the article: at university, go to university.

    Similarcollege

    Note

    Behind the campus lies a guild. In law, Medieval Latin universitas meant a number of persons joined into one body: a society, company or community. Middle English universite still covered both the institution and the people who made it up.

  2. 2
    nounobsoleteusually singular
    The whole of a group considered together; all the members of a particular class taken collectively.
    Note

    The older and wider meaning is now obsolete: the whole of any group, with no thought of lectures or degrees. George Borrow's The Zincali (1841) still reaches for it. It stays close to the Latin idea of many persons taken as one body, the guild sense behind the academic meaning. Modern readers will hear a college, so keep it for period pastiche. Elsewhere, write the whole or the entirety.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • University has an obsolete collective meaning referring to an entire group. en.wiktionary.org
    • George Borrow wrote The Zincali. en.wikipedia.org
    • The Zincali was first published in 1841. gutenberg.org
    • The Zincali contains university in the collective sense. gutenberg.org
    • The collective meaning reflects the broader Latin sense underlying the academic meaning. gutenberg.org

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Origin

It comes from Middle English 'universite', borrowed via Anglo-Norman and Old French from Medieval Latin 'universitas', which in legal and Late Latin meant a group of persons united into one body, such as a society, guild, or corporation. This in turn derives from Latin 'universus' meaning 'whole' or 'entire'.

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • University comes from Middle English universite. en.wiktionary.org
  • The borrowing passed through Anglo-Norman and Old French from Medieval Latin universitas. en.wiktionary.org
  • In legal and Late Latin, universitas denoted an associated body of people, including a society, guild, or corporation. en.wiktionary.org
  • Universitas derives from Latin universus, meaning whole or entire. en.wiktionary.org