Why Is It Called an Academy? The Answer Is a Garden in Ancient Athens
An academy is a school for a special subject, or a society of experts in an art or science. The word comes from the olive grove where Plato taught, named after a local hero.
An academy is a place of specialised training β a military academy, a police academy, a riding academy β or a learned society: the Royal Academy, the French Academy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In several countries it also names a type of school, and in Britain since 2000 an *academy* is a state-funded school run outside local authority control. The one thing all of these share is the claim to be a body of the qualified. An academy is not simply a school; it is a school that says it sets a standard.
The main senses
- A school for a particular subject. *He trained at a naval academy.*
- A learned society. *Elected to the academy at forty-two.*
- A secondary school in some school systems.
- A sports club's youth system. *She came through the club's academy.*
- Academia in general. *A career divided between industry and the academy.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun (singular) | academy | The academy accepts thirty cadets a year. |
| Noun (plural) | academies | Two new academies opened in the city. |
| Adjective | academic | An academic paper. |
| Person | academician | He was made an academician in 1974. |
| Related noun | academia | A life spent in academia. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She won a place at the academy on her second attempt.A selective training school.
- The film swept the Academy Awards that year.The learned-society sense, in its most famous use.
- Most of the first team came through the academy.Football usage, now standard worldwide.
- The question is academic β the deadline has already passed.The adjective's other meaning: theoretical, with no practical effect.
The garden behind the word
Around 387 BC Plato began teaching in a public grove north-west of Athens. The grove was called the *AkadΔmeia*, named after Akademos, a local hero of legend who had once told the Spartans where to find the kidnapped Helen and whose land it was said to have been.
Plato's school took the name of the place, and the place lent it to every institution since. A word for a Greek garden now covers police training, Oscar voting and the youth team of a football club.
What is the difference between academy and university?
A university awards degrees across many subjects. An academy is usually narrower β one field, one craft, or one honoured society β although some countries use the word for ordinary schools.
Why is the Oscars body called an Academy?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927 as a learned society for the film industry, using academy in its older meaning of a body of recognised experts.
What does it mean if a question is academic?
That it has no practical consequence. The sense grew out of the idea of scholarly debate carried on for its own sake, and it is now often mildly dismissive.