alma mater

noun

al·​ma ma·​ter ˌal-mə-ˈmä-tər 

1

: a school, college, or university which one has attended or from which one has graduated

went to a class reunion at his alma mater

2

: the song or hymn of a school, college, or university

"Hey, Harvard boy, sing your alma mater!" shouted an obnoxious producer.

—Phil Kloer

Examples of alma mater in a Sentence

I visited my old alma mater last week.

Recent Examples on the Web

Nate, a wide receiver, signed a letter of intent to play football for his parents’ alma mater in December 2022, and Nehemiah, an edge player, continued the family tradition in 2024. —Kelsey Lentz, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024

Auburn, Florida Atlantic, Utah State, UConn, Gonzaga and his alma mater, West Virginia. —Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 18 Dec. 2024

O’Grady received a retrospective of her own at the Brooklyn Museum in 2021; the show closed at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, her alma mater, earlier this year. —News Desk, Artforum, 16 Dec. 2024

The initiative operates as a collaborative project with his alma mater, Tokyo’s Waseda University. —Rana Wehbe Watson, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin, fostering mother

First Known Use

1650, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

alma mater

noun

al·​ma ma·​ter ˌal-mə-ˈmät-ər 

: a school, college, or university that one has attended

Etymology

Latin, literally "fostering mother," from almus "nourishing" (from alire "to nourish") and mater "mother" — related to alimentary, maternal