elementary school

noun

1. the lowest school giving formal instruction, teaching the rudiments of learning, and extending usually from six to eight years.

elementary school

noun

1. a former name for primary school
2. Also called (in the US)grade schoolgrammar school a state school in which instruction is given for the first six to eight years of a child's education

Word History and Origins

Origin of elementary school¹

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

I don’t know whether I would have been identified as gifted when I was a kid, but I certainly was bored out of my mind in elementary school.

From Los Angeles Times

He attended elementary school at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mott Street, where he was surrounded by the iconography of the Catholic Church.

From Los Angeles Times

They came from 33 different elementary schools in neighbourhoods representing a range of socioeconomic statuses and scattered around Quebec.

From Science Daily

More than 400 campuses in the district are elementary schools, at which the vast majority of students do not have cellphones.

From Los Angeles Times

One parent of an elementary school student confirmed to The Times that La Crescenta dismissed students at their regularly scheduled 2:40 p.m. release time, while Crescenta Valley High dismissed students out a back exit.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• grade school
• grammar school