Definition of "academy" in English

noun

1. (classical studies, usually capitalized) The garden where Plato taught.

2. (classical studies, usually capitalized) Plato's philosophical system based on skepticism; Plato's followers.

3. An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university; typically a private school.

4. A school or place of training in which some special art is taught.

   • the military academy at West Point; a riding academy; the Academy of Music; a music academy; a language academy

5. A society of learned people united for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science.

   • the French Academy; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; academies of literature and philology

6. (obsolete) The knowledge disseminated in an Academy.

7. (with the, without reference to any specific academy) Academia.

8. A body of established opinion in a particular field, regarded as authoritative.

9. (UK, education) A school directly funded by central government, independent of local control; a charter school.