conservatory

noun

con·​ser·​va·​to·​ry kən-ˈsər-və-ˌtȯr-ē 

plural conservatories

1

: a greenhouse for growing or displaying plants

2

: a school specializing in one of the fine arts

a music conservatory

Synonyms

• glasshouse [chiefly British]
• greenhouse
• hothouse

Examples of conservatory in a Sentence

the Peabody Conservatory of Music

the college's conservatory is entirely devoted to cultivating and displaying orchids

Recent Examples on the Web

That flick, in turn, was inspired by the classic midcentury board game that introduced American children to billiard rooms and conservatories and taught us that candlesticks can be fatal. —Randy McMullen, The Mercury News, 30 Oct. 2024

Amazon, a company known for its stinginess compared to other tech giants, built the Sphere project — essentially an indoor rainforest — at its Seattle headquarters, a three-building conservatory with 40,000 plants from cloud forest regions. —Kim Velsey, Curbed, 25 Oct. 2024

Related Articles Program partners in the U.S. include Purchase College and the Purchase College Foundation, which has conservatories such as The Conservatory of Dance. —Jennifer Weil, WWD, 18 Oct. 2024

Inside the garden’s conservatory are many plant specimens appropriate to Carroll’s Victorian era. —Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin conservātōrium "something that preserves" (Medieval Latin, "fish pond"), from Latin conservāre "to save or keep from danger, preserve" + -tōrium, suffix of places (from neuter of -tōrius, deverbal adjective suffix originally forming derivatives from agent nouns ending in -tōr-, -tor); (sense 2) after Italian conservatorio, originally denoting a home for foundlings and orphans who were given a musical education — more at conserve entry 1

First Known Use

1664, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

conservatory

noun

con·​ser·​va·​to·​ry kən-ˈsər-və-ˌtōr-ē 

-ˌtȯr-

plural conservatories

1

: a greenhouse for growing or displaying plants

2

: a place of instruction in some special study (as music)