PUBLIC SCHOOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does public school mean? 

• PUBLIC SCHOOL (noun)
  The noun PUBLIC SCHOOL has 2 senses:

1. a tuition free school in the United States supported by taxes and controlled by a school board

2. private independent secondary school in Great Britain supported by endowment and tuition

  Familiarity information: PUBLIC SCHOOL used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUBLIC SCHOOL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tuition free school in the United States supported by taxes and controlled by a school board

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("public school" is a kind of...):

school (an educational institution)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "public school"):

charter school (an experimental public school for kindergarten through grade 12; created and organized by teachers and parents and community leaders; operates independently of other schools)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Private independent secondary school in Great Britain supported by endowment and tuition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("public school" is a kind of...):

Gymnasium; lycee; lyceum; middle school; secondary school (a school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "public school"):

Eton College (a public school for boys founded in 1440; located in Berkshire)

Winchester College (the oldest English public school; located in Winchester)

 Context examples 

Elinor would not oppose his opinion, because, whatever might be her general estimation of the advantage of a public school, she could not think of Edward's abode in Mr. Pratt's family, with any satisfaction.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Why they WERE different, Robert exclaimed to her himself in the course of a quarter of an hour's conversation; for, talking of his brother, and lamenting the extreme GAUCHERIE which he really believed kept him from mixing in proper society, he candidly and generously attributed it much less to any natural deficiency, than to the misfortune of a private education; while he himself, though probably without any particular, any material superiority by nature, merely from the advantage of a public school, was as well fitted to mix in the world as any other man.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)