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trade school

trade school

8 3.0
A school where people learn practical skills like carpentry or plumbing
  • noun
  • /treɪd skuːl/
translation icon : escuela técnica
  • After finishing high school, she decided to enroll in a trade school to learn plumbing.
  • college and trade school
  • technical and trade schools
  • community and trade schools

And our our prison system should be only trade schools.

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Examples

  • At the time I was using them, we had a relative who was in trade school living with us.

    Blog text (18)
  • I just finished trade school this summer, and I can't find work anywhere. Why?

    Blog text (30)
  • A large trade school in our area closed down a couple of years ago.

    Blog text (9)
  • And can anyone tell me what a trade school is?

    Blog text (7)
  • One man said his high school adviser had told him the best he could hope for was trade school.

    Academic text (1991)
  • They say I ought to spend a couple of years as an apprentice or go to a trade school.

  • Even the brighter students who receive scholarships often attend trade school and not college.

    Academic text (2006)
  • She wanted me to go to trade school and become a TV repairman.

  • Yeah, so I'm I'm in a trade school to be an electrician and I'm in my last quarter.

  • Total Air & Heat employs highly skilled technicians who have attended trade schools to learn "proper" installation and repair techniques.

    Blog text (16)

Synonyms

tech
vstrade school
  • Informal
64 3.3

A school that teaches practical skills for jobs with machines and electronics

focuses on hands-on craft instruction for skilled manual jobs
vocational school
vstrade school
5 3.0

A school where students learn practical skills for a specific job

focuses on specific skilled manual jobs rather than broad occupations
vocational training
vstrade school
4 3.5

Education that teaches practical skills for a job or trade

is a formal educational institution rather than a skills program
technical school
vstrade school
4 3.2

A school that teaches practical skills for jobs like car repair or computer work

emphasizes hands-on craft skills for skilled manual jobs rather than sciences
training school
vstrade school
1 3.1

A school that teaches useful job skills like cooking or car repair

teaches specific skilled manual jobs rather than general practical instruction

How Vocational

trade school
8 3.0
normal school
  • Archaic
3 6.7
secondary school
  • US
15 2.0

Surface Forms

trade school singular
trade schools plural

Morphology

trade + school

The meaning is directly compositional: 'trade' (an occupation or skilled work) + 'school' (an educational institution) clearly yields a school for vocational trades, so a learner who knows both words can infer the MWE's meaning. This noun–noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and is therefore immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Trade school: The name trade school comes from the words trade meaning 'a skilled job' like carpentry, plumbing or electrical work and school meaning 'a place to learn'. So a trade school is a school where students learn hands-on skills for those jobs.