prep school
31
3.5
- noun
- /prɛp skuːl/
:
colegio preparatorio
- After finishing prep school, she was well-prepared for the challenges of college.
- elite prep school
So they sent me to the prep school, which is in Newport, RI.
- So they sent me to the prep school, which is in Newport, RI.
- You might even think of high school as a prep school in this regard.
- So I had like a couple of years abroad with my parents between prep school and big school.
- So Nora goes to the other city where the prep school is.
- And I think that was the first time I realized that, like, I didn't need to have gone to prep school to be smarter than these people.
- Anyway, so I saw this as an app because I didn't want to go to the the college prep school, right?
- Paul had been Ben's instructor in the prep school, Avon Old Farms, where he taught French, art and Jiu Jitsu.
- All East Coast kids that have gone to prep school and console English lit, you know, writing.
- My dad's a lawyer and you know, I went to an all boys prep school and even though the school, the landing School for Boys, like coat and tie, like the whole thing.
Examples
-
I'm a history master at a boy's prep school.
-
Instead, he was sent to a prep school in New Jersey.
Fiction book (1993) -
You went to private prep school.
-
In a few days, I leave for the prep school my father went to.
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This is all I learned in prep school.
-
We used to do this sort of thing all the time at prep school.
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I must have seen at least five dozen guys just like him at prep school.
Fiction book (1995) -
I started fencing when I was in prep school.
-
Twenty-five years ago, we went to a boys' prep school here in Connecticut.
Fiction book (1996) -
Paul had been Ben's instructor in the prep school, Avon Old Farms, where he taught French, art and Jiu Jitsu.
Synonyms
68
5.2
A private secondary school or a student who attends it
59
2.8
A private school for teenagers like a high school
1
3.7
A private school that helps students get ready for university or college
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'prep' is short for 'preparatory' (intended to prepare students) and 'school' is an educational institution, so 'prep school' transparently denotes a school for preparation. This noun+noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English formation, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning (ignoring minor regional differences in exact target institutions).
Etymology
Prep school comes from the words prep, short for 'preparatory', and school, so it literally means a school that 'prepares' students. That's why it refers to a private school that gets students ready for 'college' in the US or for a British 'public school'.