seminary

noun

sem·​i·​nary ˈse-mə-ˌner-ē How to pronounce seminary (audio)
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

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 His nearly two decades teaching canon law and moral theology at a Chicago seminary shaped his perspective to be clear about church teachings, Avella said. Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 12 Mar. 2024 At a religious seminary, similarly devout students gathered to hear an officer talk about his military duties. Natan Odenheimer, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2024 Priests who operated plantations and sold people established the first Catholic seminary. Rachel Hatzipanagos, Washington Post, 10 July 2023 According to the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors, 35 percent of America’s nearly 5,000 seminarians have been impacted by FOCUS, the campus ministry group, and some seminaries are seeing surging enrollment. Tim Busch, National Review, 23 Dec. 2023 In this culture of the physical imbued with the sacred, Najaf and Karbala, with their grand ayatollahs and seminaries, along with the mosque in Kufa, where Ali died, form the points of a sacred triangle. Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023 In 1960, Cardinal Pell began his studies to become a priest at the Australian seminary Corpus Christi College in Werribee, another suburb of Melbourne. Damien Cave, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2023 Impaler explores Dracula’s bloody history and his tenure at Satan’s legendary seminary of the dark arts, the Scholomance. Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Oct. 2023 The three major and longtime funders of the seminaries — the Central Council, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Brandenburg Ministry of Science — have all been aligned, declaring together in December their support for an independent liberal rabbinical seminary under a new structure. Toby Axelrod, Sun Sentinel, 9 Mar. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'seminary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of seminary was in 1542

Dictionary Entries Near seminary

Cite this Entry

“Seminary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seminary. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

seminary

noun
sem·​i·​nary ˈsem-ə-ˌner-ē How to pronounce seminary (audio)
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."

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