redbrick

adjective

red·​brick ˈred-ˌbrik 

1

: built of red brick

2

often capitalized [from the common use of red brick in constructing the buildings of recently founded universities] : of, relating to, or being the British universities founded in the 19th or early 20th century compare oxbridge, plateglass

Did you know?

Although red brick is a perfectly innocent building material in America, the British usage of redbrick is often potentially uncomplimentary. Redbrick is a British coinage created to denote the universities which were newer and perhaps less prestigious than Oxford and Cambridge (and sometimes the ancient universities of Scotland). These newer universities tended to be constructed of red brick, rather than the stone used for Oxford and Cambridge, and were most often created in industrial cities such as Liverpool. Sometimes the term is also used to distinguish these universities from those built after World War II. Limited evidence suggests that redbrick may be developing an extended meaning of "lower-class" or "working class," but this is not yet established enough to merit a dictionary entry.

Examples of redbrick in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 1,531-square-foot two-bedroom penthouse duplex is one of six units at 50-52 Rutland Square, an 1860 redbrick town house. —Marni Elyse Katz, BostonGlobe.com, 30 Nov. 2022

The School of Divinity’s narrow tower looms over the campus, a phallic, redbrick building that resembles an oversize lighthouse, and holds a replica of the Liberty Bell at the top. —Brice Particelli, Harper’s Magazine , 7 Dec. 2021

Yet just across the slow-running River Tyne, the redbrick houses of Europe’s last great yeshiva town are visible in the smaller neighboring city of Gateshead. —Jacob Judah, sun-sentinel.com, 17 Mar. 2021

All in all, there are 400 businesses on the 300-acre property, which fuses contemporary buildings and historic redbrick factories—the perfect place for Vogue and the CFDA’s annual soirée. —Elise Taylor, Vogue, 6 Nov. 2018

The road is lined with endless rows of ramshackle redbrick buildings. —The Economist, 14 June 2018

As if to advertise Moscow’s contradictions, the far end of Nikolskaya looks out at the imposing yellow and redbrick Lubyanka building, once home to the KGB and now housing its successor, the FSB organization. —Trudy Rubin, Philly.com, 18 Apr. 2018

The report barely acknowledges that Philadelphia’s traditional redbrick fabric and fine institutional buildings are experiencing an unprecedented wave of destruction, induced by a decadelong building boom. —Inga Saffron, Philly.com, 29 Mar. 2018

The 9-acre McKeldin Mall stretches from the Main Administration Building to McKeldin Library, with its stalwart redbrick exterior, distinctive front stairway, and crisp white-columned facade. —Jennifer Chappell Smith, Southern Living, 16 Aug. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1769, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!