Phrase guide

public school

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Certain private schools, particularly (initially) any grammar school operated apart from the personal lands of its students or (from the 19th century) the feepaying secondary schools which developed from or were modelled upon them; a British boarding school.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: India, Ireland, UK

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: boarding school, private school

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A publicly funded and administered school; (UK, Ireland) such schools in the context of other countries.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, Philippines, South-Africa, US

Qualifier: formerly Scottish

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: comprehensive school, free school, state school

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A college or university.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

Examples

  • ante''' 1593, Christopher Marlowe, Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604), sig. A3v Ile haue them fill the publike schooles with skill. Wherewith the students shal be brauely clad.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

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

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: school

Narrower terms: charter school

5

noun

Meaning 5

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

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: secondary school, lyceum, lycee, Gymnasium, middle school

Narrower terms: Eton College, Winchester College

History

Etymology

From public + school: originally, “public” in the sense of "communal" and contrasted with personal tutors; later, "state-run" and contrasted with private schools.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • German: Public School — (in the context of Britain) private grammar school; boarding school
  • Esperanto: ŝtata lernejo — publicly administered school
  • Finnish: yleinen koulu — publicly administered school
  • Finnish: peruskoulu — publicly administered school
  • French: école publique — publicly administered school
  • German: öffentliche Schule — publicly administered school
  • Greek: δημόσιο σχολείο (dimósio scholeío) — publicly administered school
  • Indonesian: sekolah negeri — publicly administered school
  • Khmer: សាលារដ្ឋ (sala roth) — publicly administered school
  • Khmer: សាលាសាធារណៈ (sala satheraknak) — publicly administered school
  • Malay: sekolah kebangsaan — publicly administered school
  • Portuguese: escola pública — publicly administered school
  • Romanian: școală publică — publicly administered school
  • Tagalog: paaralang bayan — publicly administered school
  • Tagalog: paaralang publiko — publicly administered school
  • Tagalog: pampublikong paaralan — publicly administered school