schoolyard

noun

school·​yard ˈskül-ˌyärd 

plural schoolyards

: the area next to or surrounding a school where students typically play games or sports

He organized a marbles tournament that could take place only in the schoolyard during recess.

—Jerry Spinelli

… there was a schoolboyish quality to the way he did it—as if he were trying to show that he was the biggest, toughest boy in the schoolyard.

—Elizabeth Drew

—often used before another noun

schoolyard games

a schoolyard bully

Examples of schoolyard in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His banter with deadpan Principal Woodman (John Sylvester White) and his loving, eye-rolling wife Julie (Marcia Strassman) brought the series full circle, blending schoolyard shenanigans with heartfelt adult comedy. —Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025

An Israeli airstrike hit a school in Sheikh Radwan, a Gaza City neighborhood where Palestinians shelter in makeshift tents in the schoolyard. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 23 Aug. 2025

As children played in the schoolyard, there were no reports of federal agents in the area. —Nino Paoli, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2025

The mock-heroic plenitude—a page, say, on Waddington’s jigsaw map of the British Isles, or four pages on schoolyard fights, including a close study of the resident bully—is a way of insisting on one’s importance and denying it at the same time. —James Wood, New Yorker, 14 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1586, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for schoolyard

• asgard
• backyard
• barnyard
• blackguard
• bombard
• brickyard
• canard
• churchyard
• coastguard
• courtyard
• debarred
• diehard

Kids Definition

schoolyard

noun

school·​yard

-ˌyärd

: the playground of a school