ivory tower

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊə/
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• US: /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊɚ/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Calque of French tour d'ivoire, based on a biblical phrase, coined by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve to compare the poet Alfred de Vigny (more isolated) with Victor Hugo (more socially engaged). First attested in English in a translation of Laughter by French philosopher Henri Bergson (1911). The term was popularized in The Ivory Tower (1917) by Henry James, though used in different sense (millionaires, not professors).

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Mandarin: 象牙塔 (xiàngyátǎ) — overly-academic perspective
• Czech: slonovinová věž — overly-academic perspective
• Danish: elfenbenstårn — overly-academic perspective
• Dutch: ivoren toren — overly-academic perspective
• Esperanto: eburturo — overly-academic perspective
• Finnish: norsunluutorni — overly-academic perspective
• French: tour d'ivoire — overly-academic perspective
• German: Elfenbeinturm — overly-academic perspective
• Hungarian: elefántcsonttorony — overly-academic perspective
• Icelandic: fílabeinsturn — overly-academic perspective
• Ido: ivora turmo — overly-academic perspective
• Indonesian: menara gading — overly-academic perspective
• Interlingua: turre eboree — overly-academic perspective
• Italian: torre d'avorio — overly-academic perspective
• Italian: torre eburnea — overly-academic perspective
• Japanese: 象牙の塔 (zōge no tō) — overly-academic perspective
• Korean: 상아탑 (sang'atap) — overly-academic perspective
• Latin: turris eburnea — overly-academic perspective
• Malay: menara gading — overly-academic perspective
• Norwegian Bokmål: elfenbenstårn — overly-academic perspective
• Norwegian Bokmål: elfenbeinstårn — overly-academic perspective
• Norwegian Nynorsk: elfenbeinstårn — overly-academic perspective
• Polish: wieża z kości słoniowej — overly-academic perspective
• Portuguese: torre de marfim — overly-academic perspective
• Russian: ба́шня из слоно́вой ко́сти (bášnja iz slonóvoj kósti) — overly-academic perspective
• Slovene: slonokoščeni stolp — overly-academic perspective
• Spanish: torre de marfil — overly-academic perspective
• Swedish: elfenbenstorn — overly-academic perspective
• Thai: หอคอยงาช้าง (hɔ̌ɔ-kɔɔi-ngaa-cháang) — overly-academic perspective
• Turkish: fildişi kule — overly-academic perspective
• Ukrainian: ве́жа із слоно́вої кі́стки (véža iz slonóvoji kístky) — overly-academic perspective
• Ukrainian: вежа зі слонової кістки (veža zi slonovoji kistky) — overly-academic perspective
• Vietnamese: tháp ngà — overly-academic perspective
• Welsh: tŵr ifori — overly-academic perspective