Lyceum
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A public hall designed for lectures, readings, or concerts. historical
"At a lyceum, not long since, I felt that the lecturer had chosen a theme too foreign to himself, and so failed to interest me as much as he might have done."
- 2 a public hall for lectures and concerts wordnet
- 3 A school, especially European, at a stage between elementary school and college, a lycée. US, historical
"We burst out laughing. She told me that one of her teachers at the "lyceum" used to say that whenever any of the students got up to anything."
- 4 a school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12 wordnet
- 5 An association for literary improvement.
- 1 An ancient Greek temple in Athens dedicated to Apollo Lyceus.
Example
More examples"Today let's examine a typical morning of a lyceum student."
Etymology
From Latin Lyceum, from Ancient Greek Λύκειον (Lúkeion) (the name of a gymnasium, or athletic training facility, near Athens where Aristotle established his school), from Λύκειος, from Proto-Greek *λύκη), "light." The meaning of the epithet "Lyceus" later became associated with Apollo's mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia (Λυκία) and who was identified with the wolf (λύκος). Doublet of lycée and Lyceum.
Learned borrowing from Latin Lycēum, from Ancient Greek Λύκειον (Lúkeion). Doublet of lyceum and lycée.
Related phrases
More for "lyceum"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.