Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An institution for higher learning with teaching and research facilities typically including a graduate school and professional schools that award master's degrees and doctorates and an undergraduate division that awards bachelor's degrees.
  • noun The buildings and grounds of such an institution.
  • noun The body of students and faculty of such an institution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The whole; the universe.
  • noun A corporation; a gild.
  • noun An association of men for the purpose of study, which confers degrees which are acknowledged as valid throughout Christendom, is endowed, and is privileged by the state in order that the people may receive intellectual guidance, and that the theoretical problems which present themselves in the development of civilization may be resolved.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete The universe; the whole.
  • noun obsolete An association, society, guild, or corporation, esp. one capable of having and acquiring property.
  • noun An institution organized and incorporated for the purpose of imparting instruction, examining students, and otherwise promoting education in the higher branches of literature, science, art, etc., empowered to confer degrees in the several arts and faculties, as in theology, law, medicine, music, etc. A university may exist without having any college connected with it, or it may consist of but one college, or it may comprise an assemblage of colleges established in any place, with professors for instructing students in the sciences and other branches of learning. In modern usage, a university is expected to have both an undergraduate division, granting bachelor's degrees, and a graduate division, granting master's or doctoral degrees, but there are some exceptions. In addition, a modern university typically also supports research by its faculty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Institution of higher education (typically accepting students from the age of about 17 or 18, depending on country, but in some exceptional cases able to take younger students) where subjects are studied and researched in depth and degrees are offered.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the body of faculty and students at a university
  • noun establishment where a seat of higher learning is housed, including administrative and living quarters as well as facilities for research and teaching
  • noun a large and diverse institution of higher learning created to educate for life and for a profession and to grant degrees

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English universite, from Old French, from Medieval Latin ūniversitās, from Latin, the whole, a corporate body, from ūniversus, whole; see universe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, "institution of higher learning," "body of persons constituting a university," from Anglo-Norman université, from Old French universitei, from Medieval Latin stem of universitas, in juridical and Late Latin "A number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc.," in Latin, "the whole, aggregate," from universus ("whole, entire")

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Examples

  • If you'd like to explore how the world of the university press world is gettin' free, try this search on Google or Yahoo along with your favorite keywords: “university press” free download site:edu .

    Internet News: E-Books Archives 2009

  • If you'd like to explore how the world of the university press world is gettin' free, try this search on Google or Yahoo along with your favorite keywords: “university press” free download site:edu .

    Internet News: February 2008 Archives 2008

  • Craig then says that "Goethe tended to be unsympathetic toward university intellectuals with liberal views, but this was because he feared that their activities would lead neighboring princes to withdraw their subjects from the university…."

    The Goethe Case Wilson, W. Daniel 2000

  • Speaking there, Zuma said: "It (University of Zululand) used to be known as a bush university.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • But even when they are not, the popularity of the term university in a corporate setting speaks to important truths.

    The Monster Under The Bed Stan Davis 1994

  • But even when they are not, the popularity of the term university in a corporate setting speaks to important truths.

    The Monster Under The Bed Stan Davis 1994

  • There were challenges from government officials over its use of the term "university college", as it had not been granted such a status and does not have its own degree-awarding powers.

    BBC News - Home 2012

  • The last time the title university college was conferred was for Buckingham University College – now the University of Buckingham – in 1976.

    Private university to be first in Britain for over 30 years 2010

  • One of the most elementary lessons I gathered from my macroeconomics courses in university is that the trickle-down theory and slash-and-burn approach of fiscal policy utilized by many Republicans today simply does not work.

    Do Conservative Fiscal Policies Fulfill Their Promise? : Law is Cool 2008

  • In its very simplest terms a university is a corporation (generally consisting of a group of schools, faculties or colleges) for the conservation, dissemination and advancement of learning.

    The University—Yesterday, Today And ? 1957

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