academy Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a secondary school (usually private)
  2. noun an institution for the advancement of art or science or literature
    honorary society.
  3. noun a school for special training
  4. noun a learned establishment for the advancement of knowledge

WordNet

A*cad"e*my noun
Etymology
F. académie, L. academia. Cf. Academe.
Wordforms
plural Academies
Definitions
  1. A garden or grove near Athens (so named from the hero Academus), where Plato and his followers held their philosophical conferences; hence, the school of philosophy of which Plato was head.
  2. An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university. Popularly, a school, or seminary of learning, holding a rank between a college and a common school.
  3. A place of training; a school. "Academies of fanaticism." Hume.
  4. A society of learned men united for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science; as, the French Academy; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; academies of literature and philology.
  5. A school or place of training in which some special art is taught; as, the military academy at West Point; a riding academy; the Academy of Music.

Webster 1913