seminary

noun

sem·​i·​nary ˈse-mə-ˌner-ē 

plural seminaries

1

: an environment in which something originates and from which it is propagated

a seminary of vice and crime

2

a

: an institution of secondary or higher education

b

: an institution for the training of candidates for the priesthood, ministry, or rabbinate

Synonyms

• academe
• academy
• school

Examples of seminary in a Sentence

a seminary exclusively for women

some claimed that orphanages were seminaries of sin and petty crime, turning out juvenile delinquents by the score

Recent Examples on the Web

McLaren is an author, popular blogger, frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, and has taught or lectured at many seminaries, denominational, and interfaith gatherings. —News Release, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Feb. 2025

The little yellow ashram has a small meditation garden, a Hindu seminary and a residential monastery. —Kira Wakeam, NPR, 31 Jan. 2025

Most of the region’s earliest cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus, were traced to the holy city of Qom in Iran, whose renowned Shiite seminaries and Sayyida Fatimah al-Masumah shrine draw aspiring clerics and devout pilgrims from across the Shiite world. —Toby Matthiesen, Foreign Affairs, 23 Mar. 2020

But to the Pakistani government and Western counterterrorism officials, the religious seminaries known as madrasas also represent a potential threat. —Zia Ur-Rehman, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, seedbed, nursery, from Latin seminarium, from semin-, semen seed

First Known Use

1542, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing seminary

• major seminary
• minor seminary

Rhymes for seminary

• accessary
• adversary
• ancillary
• arbitrary
• aviary
• axillary
• beriberi
• breviary
• budgetary
• capillary
• catenary
• cautionary

Kids Definition

seminary

noun

sem·​i·​nary ˈsem-ə-ˌner-ē 

plural seminaries

1

: a private school at or above the high school level

2

: a school for the training of priests, ministers, or rabbis

Etymology

Middle English seminary "seedbed, nursery, from Latin seminarium (same meaning), from semen "seed"

Word Origin

The English word seminary and its Latin source seminarium, a derivative of semen, "seed," both originally denoted a nursery for young plants. Roman authors sometimes used the Latin word figuratively, but English has gone much further in extending the meaning of the word, while the old sense "nursery for plants" is now obsolete. The use of seminary in reference to training schools for Roman Catholic clergy dates from the 16th century. Today the word refers equally to Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish colleges for training priests, ministers, or rabbis. Seminary has also been applied to other kinds of schools. When they were first formed in the 19th century, colleges for women were called "female seminaries" or "seminaries for young ladies."