eleven-plus

1 8.9

An exam once taken in Britain at about eleven to decide if a child can go to a grammar school

noun
/ɪˈlɛvən plʌs/

Archaic

: examen de once años

She studied hard for the eleven-plus exam to secure her spot in a good secondary school.

Examples

Many parents prepare their children for the eleven-plus test.
In the 1950s, every child had to sit the eleven-plus exam to determine their secondary education.
After passing the eleven-plus, he gained admission to a prestigious grammar school.
Her parents were anxious about her performance in the eleven-plus tests.
The eleven-plus exam was a significant milestone for students.
Many children in Britain take the eleven-plus at age eleven to determine their educational path.
Passing the eleven-plus was a significant achievement for him, as it meant he could attend a prestigious grammar school.

Synonyms

11-plus

vseleven-plus

Archaic

1 8.8

An exam in Britain for 11 or 12 year olds to get into grammar school

is the same exam but written using words instead of numerals

Surface Forms

eleven-plus singular

eleven-pluses plural

Morphology

eleven-plus = eleven (transparent) = plus + eleven

The compound is a straightforward combination of the number 'eleven' and 'plus' meaning 'and over', so the sense (an exam for age 11/older) is directly inferable from its parts. [Postprocessing: moved 'plus' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Eleven-plus is made of eleven and plus, which together mean 'eleven and older'. It was the name of a British test taken around age eleven to decide which kind of secondary school a child would attend.