Definition
nounThe garden where Plato taught.
nounAn institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university; typically a private school.
Sentence Examples
His new movie earned him an Academy Award.
Whereas Spain has the Royal Spanish Academy, the United States has Urban Dictionary.
She trained at the Royal Academy of Music.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Ancient Greek Ἀκάδημος (Akádēmos)
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂
Proto-Hellenic *-íā
Ancient Greek -ία (-ía)
Ancient Greek Ἀκαδήμεια (Akadḗmeia)der.
Classical Latin acadēmī̆ader.
Middle English Achademia
English academy
From Middle English Achademia, achademy, Achademye, achadomye, from Classical Latin Acadēmī̆a /acadēmī̆a, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attic hero Akademos. Doublet of academe, academia, and Akademeia.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The artists of London had long maintained a private academy for improvement in the art of drawing from living figures"
— 1760–5, Tobias Smollett, The history of England from the revolution in 1688, to the death of George II, published 1805, page 449:
"In this year 1633, I became acquainted with Nicholas Fiske, licentiate in physic, who was born in Suffolk, near Framingham* Castle, of very good parentage, who educated him at country schools, until he was fit for the university; but he went not to the academy, studying at home both astrology and physic, which he afterwards practised in Colchester; and there was well acquainted with Dr Gilbert, who wrote "De Magnete"."
— 1776, David Hume, The life of David Hume:
"Rudolf was the bold, bad Baron of traditional melodrama. Irene was young, as pretty as a picture, fresh from a music academy in England. He was the scion of an ancient noble family; she an orphan without money or friends."
— 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 9, in Crime out of Mind:
"In the academy and outside of it, the privileging of technical expertise above other forms of knowledge is a political gesture, and one that has proved highly effective in neutralizing critique of established power relations."
— 2016, Neoliberal Tools (and Archives): A Political History of Digital Humanities: