university

noun

uni·​ver·​si·​ty ˌyü-nə-ˈvər-sə-tē 

-ˈvər-stē

plural universities

1

: an institution of higher learning providing facilities for teaching and research and authorized to grant academic degrees

specifically : one made up of an undergraduate division which confers bachelor's degrees and a graduate division which comprises a graduate school and professional schools each of which may confer master's degrees and doctorates

2

: the physical plant of a university

Examples of university in a Sentence

I applied to several public universities.

He lives near the university.

Recent Examples on the Web

Unspent grant funding of $12.4M terminated at two CT universities. —Dr. Jonathan Rosen, Hartford Courant, 11 May 2025

News Education Two Johns Hopkins University student protesters for Palestine were injured during the university’s response to an encampment Thursday morning, a campus activist group said. —Racquel Bazos, Baltimore Sun, 11 May 2025

While there are still unidentified suspects in vehicle burglaries that happened around the university campus, TCU police have identified two suspects. —Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 May 2025

The imaginary elements of the story — the witches, and the university — stem from growing up with my father, and reading novels by Julio Verne and Emilio Salgari. —Ernesto Lechner, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English universite, from Anglo-French université, from Medieval Latin universitat-, universitas, from Latin universus

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing university

• anti-university
• go to university
• inter-university
• pre-university
• state university

Rhymes for university

• adversity
• diversity
• perversity
• biodiversity
• polydispersity

Kids Definition

university

noun

uni·​ver·​si·​ty ˌyü-nə-ˈvər-sət-ē 

-ˈvər-stē

plural universities

: a school that offers courses leading to a degree (as a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree) and where research is done