athenaeum

American  

[ath-uh-nee-uhm, -ney-] / ˌæθ əˈni əm, -ˈneɪ- /

Or atheneum

noun

1. an institution for the promotion of literary or scientific learning.

2. a library or reading room.

3. (initial capital letter) a sanctuary of Athena at Athens, built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, and frequented by poets and scholars.

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Athenaeum ¹ British  

/ ˌæθɪˈniːəm /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a building sacred to the goddess Athena, esp the Athenian temple that served as a gathering place for the learned

2. (in imperial Rome) the academy of learning established near the Forum in about 135 _ad by Hadrian

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athenaeum ² British  

/ ˌæθɪˈniːəm /

noun

1. an institution for the promotion of learning

2. a building containing a reading room or library, esp one used by such an institution

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Etymology

Origin of athenaeum

1720–30; < Latin < Greek Athḗnaion temple of Athena, where poets read their works

Example Sentences

In the 1800s, the Fairbanks brothers moved to town, earning their fortune through the invention and production of the platform scale; they founded a museum, athenaeum and academy, all operating to this day.

From Washington Post • Oct. 8, 2020

The back of his state-issued S.U.V. is stacked with notebooks filled with ideas and data culled from books and articles and conversations with nearly four hundred experts; it’s a kind of rolling athenaeum.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 29, 2018

This was on April 20, 2016, the day after a book event at Folio, a brand-new athenaeum in downtown Seattle, where I had been expecting to see Dotty Guth, a former New Yorker colleague.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 18, 2017

But Dotty was not at the athenaeum that night.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 18, 2017

He offered him a whole square next to that where the college, the courthouse, the church, the library, the athenaeum, and all the public buildings were situated….

From Choice Specimens of American Literature, and Literary Reader Being Selections from the Chief American Writers by Martin, Benj. N.