alma mater
30
5.3
- noun
- /ˈɑlmə ˈmɑtər/
:
alma mater
- His office was dominated by basketball pictures from his alma mater, Duke University.
- alma mater, Oxford University
- visited my alma mater
- alma mater—Cornell
I had a show at my sister's alma mater, Loyola University.
- I had a show at my sister's alma mater, Loyola University.
- Plenty of people who were there and I'm proud of our alma mater.
- I'm both delighted and terrified to speak here at my alma mater and what is hands down the best school in the world.
- So it's it's like sort of the alma mater for your College of midlife.
- We got to, you know, our alma mater is there.
- Corey, choose the red baby in honor of the Utah Utes your alma mater or you played basketball where I saw on the bench.
- And I went to a conference at my from the, my alma mater medical school and they said that healthy people should be given hormone replacement.
Examples
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You were educated abroad, at my alma mater, Oxford, in fact.
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Alumni are proud of supporting their alma mater, and as a result, the program grows and becomes self-sustaining through donations.
Academic text (2013) -
I love being back at our alma mater, right, honey?
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Well, this is my alma mater.
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Students should graduate knowing what makes their alma mater special.
Academic text (2016) -
Howard and I have the same alma mater.
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I'm absolutely delighted to be here at my alma mater, where I have not been for a very long time.
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And that school happens to be my alma mater, Dartmouth.
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Both were University of Georgia alumni with great affection for their alma mater.
Academic text (2014) -
I am proud to attend my alma mater, where I learned so much during my studies.
Surface Forms
Morphology
alma + mater
This is a Latin borrowing whose parts do not transparently yield the meaning 'school/university' to a B1 learner: 'alma' is not a common English word and 'mater' (mother) does not naturally compose to mean an educational institution. The metaphorical sense 'nourishing mother' is historical and lexicalized, so the meaning must be learned rather than derived from the constituents.
Etymology
Alma mater comes from Latin words alma ('nourishing') and mater ('mother'). Long ago schools were called a 'mother' because they feed students with knowledge, so alma mater now means 'the school someone went to'.