Definitions

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

  • noun A school, especially a theological school for the training of clergy.
  • noun A school of higher education, especially a private school for girls.
  • noun A place or environment in which something is developed or nurtured.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to seed or semen; seminal.
  • Of or pertaining to a seminary (def. II., 3): said of a Roman Catholic priest.
  • Of or pertaining to a seminary (def. II., 5): as, a seminary course.
  • noun A seed-plot; ground where seed is sown for producing plants for transplantation; a nursery: now only in figurative use.
  • noun Figuratively The original place or original stock whence anything is brought.
  • noun A place of education; any school, academy, college, or university in which persons (especially the young) are instructed in the several branches of learning which may qualify them for their future employments; specifically, a school for the education of men for the priesthood or ministry.
  • noun A seminary priest; a Roman Catholic priest educated in a seminary, especially a foreign one; a seminarist.
  • noun In some universities and institutions, a group of advanced students pursuing some branch by real research, the writing of theses, etc.; also, the course of study engaged in by such students; a seminary course: imitated from German use. Also seminar.

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

  • adjective rare Belonging to seed; seminal.
  • noun obsolete A piece of ground where seed is sown for producing plants for transplantation; a nursery; a seed plat.
  • noun obsolete Hence, the place or original stock whence anything is brought or produced.
  • noun A place of education, as a scool of a high grade, an academy, college, or university.
  • noun obsolete Seminal state.
  • noun obsolete Fig.: A seed bed; a source.
  • noun obsolete A Roman Catholic priest educated in a foreign seminary; a seminarist.

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

  • noun A theological school for the training of rabbis, priests, or ministers.
  • noun A private residential school for girls.
  • noun Mormonism A class of religious education for youths ages 14–18 that accompanies normal secular education.
  • adjective Of or relating to seed; seminal.

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

  • noun a theological school for training ministers or priests or rabbis
  • noun a private place of education for the young

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, seed plot, from Latin sēminārium, from sēminārius, of seed, from sēmen, sēmin-, seed; see sē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin sēminārium, from sēmen ("seed"). Compare seminar.

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Examples

  • And his teacher in seminary is a huge fan of the show.

    'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia': The cast tells their story | EW.com 2009

  • Sometimes what we read and learn in seminary is something of a mystery to the outside world.

    Books 2009

  • If the word seminary conjures up images of an austere, cloistered, and religious world, you are not far off at all.

    Failing at FAIRNESS Myra David Sadker 2003

  • If the word seminary conjures up images of an austere, cloistered, and religious world, you are not far off at all.

    Failing at FAIRNESS Myra David Sadker 2003

  • If the word seminary conjures up images of an austere, cloistered, and religious world, you are not far off at all.

    Failing at FAIRNESS Myra David Sadker 2003

  • Now that I'm in seminary studying philosophy, I'm reading plenty of nonfiction and not very much fiction, but we're still doing the Fiction Fast, and we're still doing the Lenten Read-a-Thon, though I have selected for this year a book much shorter and lighter than what we've read in years past, mostly because of my limited time for extracurricular reading:

    2010 Lenten Read-a-Thon 2010

  • Now that I'm in seminary studying philosophy, I'm reading plenty of nonfiction and not very much fiction, but we're still doing the Fiction Fast, and we're still doing the Lenten Read-a-Thon, though I have selected for this year a book much shorter and lighter than what we've read in years past, mostly because of my limited time for extracurricular reading:

    Archive 2010-02-01 2010

  • Years after first writing about Edythe, I took a writing class while in seminary at the Earlham School of Religion.

    Haven Kimmel discusses A Girl Named Zippy 2010

  • GH: My brother-in-law is in seminary school right now.

    'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia': The cast tells their story | EW.com 2009

  • I did get a whiff of the ridiculousness Southern fundamentalism in seminary (tons of Southern boys there who wanted to chat with me for periods longer than I was comfortable with when I ran into them), but even then it was moderated by the sophistication (in every sense of the word) of education.

    No, “Lot” was not the place you played stickball | clusterflock 2009

Comments

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  • 1 seminary = 500 millinaries

    February 23, 2008