1. A school for special instruction.
2. A secondary or college-preparatory school, especially a private one.
3. 1. The academic community; academe: "When there's moral leadership from the White House and from the academy, people tend to adjust" (Jesse Jackson).
   2. Higher education in general. Used with the.
   3. A society of scholars, scientists, or artists.
4. Academy
   1. Plato's school for advanced education and the first institutional school of philosophy.
   2. Platonism.
   3. The disciples of Plato.

[Latin Acadēmīa, the school where Plato taught, from Greek Akadēmeia.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.