Phrase guide

secondary school

noun · 4 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

A state school attended between the ages of 11 and 16 or 18 between primary school and university.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Hong-Kong, Ireland, UK, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The federally designated, graduation-separated classification of grades 9–12 (approximately ages 14–18), regardless of whether they are compiled together in one school or separate from the other grades.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Middle school; junior high school; a school that one attends between the ages of 12-17 (equivalent of grades 7-10 in North America, and years 7-10 in Australia).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Singapore, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lyceum, lycee, Gymnasium, middle school

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: school

Narrower terms: academy, trade school, vocational school, senior high school, senior high, high, highschool, high school, junior high school, junior high, preparatory school, prep school, public school, grammar school, secondary modern school, comprehensive school, composite school

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

71 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: sekondêre skool — school
  • Afrikaans: hoërskool — school
  • Arabic: مَدْرَسَة ثَانَوِيَّة — school
  • Arabic: ثَانَوِيَّة (ṯānawiyya) — school
  • Azerbaijani: orta məktəb — school
  • Azerbaijani: dəbiristan — school
  • Bulgarian: средно училище (sredno učilište) — school
  • Bulgarian: средно (sredno) — school
  • Bulgarian: гимназия (gimnazija) — school
  • Chinese Mandarin: 中學 /中学 (zhōngxué) — school
  • Dutch: secundaire school — school
  • Dutch: school voor voortgezet onderwijs — school
  • Dutch: middelbare school — school
  • Esperanto: gimnazio — school
  • Esperanto: mezlernejo — school
  • Esperanto: liceo — school
  • Finnish: yläaste ja lukio — school
  • French: école secondaire — school
  • French: lycée — school
  • French: collège — school
  • German: Mittelschule — school
  • German: Oberschule — school
  • Greek: λύκειο (lýkeio) — school
  • Haitian Creole: lekòl segondè — school
  • Hungarian: középiskola — school
  • Icelandic: framhaldsskóli — school
  • Icelandic: menntaskóli — school
  • Ido: gimnazio — school
  • Indonesian: sekolah menengah — school
  • Indonesian: sekolah lanjutan — school
  • Irish: ardscoil — school
  • Irish: meánscoil — school
  • Italian: liceo (lyceum) — school
  • Italian: ginnasio — school
  • Italian: liceo classico — school
  • Italian: liceo scientifico — school
  • Italian: liceo linguistico — school
  • Italian: liceo artistico (art lyceum) — school
  • Italian: scuola secondaria — school
  • Italian: scuola superiore — school
  • Japanese: 中学校 (chūgakkō) — school
  • Japanese: 高校 (kōkō) — school
  • Khmer: សាលាទុតិយៈ (sala tu teh yak) — school
  • Khmer: អនុវិទ្យាល័យ (ak nu vi tyea lay) — school
  • Latvian: vidusskola — school
  • Luxembourgish: Lycée — school
  • Macedonian: средно училиште (sredno učilište) — school
  • Malay: sekolah menengah — school
  • Brunei Malay: skulah menengah — school
  • Manchu: ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ ᡨᠠᠴᡳᡴᡡ (dulimbai tacikū) — school
  • Persian: دبیرستان (dabirestân) — school
  • Polish: szkoła średnia — school
  • Portuguese: secundária — school
  • Portuguese: liceu — school
  • Romanian: liceu — school
  • Romanian: școală secundară — school
  • Romanian: gimnaziu — school
  • Russian: сре́дняя шко́ла (srédnjaja škóla) — school
  • Scottish Gaelic: àrd-sgoil — school
  • Slovak: stredná škola — school
  • Spanish: secundaria — school
  • Spanish: escuela secundaria — school
  • Swahili: sekondari — school
  • Swahili: shule ya upili — school
  • Swahili: shule ya sekondari — school
  • Tagalog: mataas na paaralan — school
  • Tagalog: paaralang sekundaryo — school
  • Tagalog: sekundarya — school
  • Vietnamese: trường trung học — school
  • Welsh: ysgol uwchradd — school
  • Zhuang: cunghyoz — school