School Definition: Common Collocations and Popular Phrases

To define “school” take a look at how native speakers typically use this word in different contexts to convey certain thoughts and information.

Discover “school” synonyms to sound more fluent in English and be capable of writing and talking about it while using different terms.

Related nouns: academy institution college university teacher

Synonyms (contextual): educational institution learning center

Common collocations: elementary school high school private school

If you want to be able to provide a “school” description completely on your own, you need to understand how to combine this word with different parts of speech like adjectives, nouns and verbs.

With adjectives: public school big school good school local school

With verbs: attend school finish school drop out of school start school

With nouns (noun + noun): school day school year school building school uniform

“School” in English is not the type of word that you can see in a big number of indirect expressions in terms of meaning. Look at some of them and learn what else this word can convey apart from being an educational institution.

• Old school — traditional methods or attitudes; preferring how things were done in the past.

  My grandfather is old school — he doesn’t trust online banking and pays everything with cash.

• School of thought — a particular way of thinking about a topic, a specific approach or philosophy.

  There are two schools of thought about child discipline — strict rules versus gentle guidance.

• School of hard knocks — learning through difficult life experiences rather than formal education.

  He never went to business school — he learned everything from the school of hard knocks.

• School days — nostalgic reference to childhood education and school friends.

  Whenever I see the playground near my parents’ house, I think fondly of my school days.

Check how well you understand all the presented material about this word and whether you are capable of comprehending the description of “school” regardless of context.

Discover how to spell “school” and pronounce it properly in other popular European languages like German, French and Spanish.

Familiarize yourself with these interesting details about “school,” its history and influence on modern society. Check which facts are new for you and which ones you already knew.

• The first schools were over 4,000 years old.

  The earliest known schools existed in ancient Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE, teaching privileged boys reading, writing and mathematics. Later civilizations established formal schools, though education was mostly available to wealthy males at that time.

• Compulsory education is relatively new.

  Universal mandatory schooling became common only in the 19th and 20th centuries. Prussia introduced one of the first compulsory systems in 1763, but most countries required school attendance much later.

• Summer vacation originated from farming.

  Long summer breaks developed when children were needed to help with planting and harvest seasons. Although society has largely moved away from agriculture, the three-month break tradition still exists in many countries.

• Online schools are growing rapidly.

  Since 2020, online education has expanded significantly. It offers flexibility for traveling families, students with health challenges and those living in remote areas, though it also remains a subject of debate.

“School” and education are not just words, for some people it is a philosophy and crucial parts of their lives. Discover how these people refer to this institution and think whether they are right or not in what they said.