ENGLISH
REFERENCE

harvard

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈhɑɹvɝd// har·vard Vulgar

n. a very famous and old university in the United States. People often use the name to talk about high quality, wealth, or success in education.

n. a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, established in 1636. Often used metonymically to represent elite academic status or the American educational establishment.


SIMPLE

She studied law at Harvard.

CONTEXTUAL

After years of hard work, he finally received an acceptance letter from Harvard.

COMPLEX

The university's endowment, the largest of its kind globally, allows Harvard to fund groundbreaking research across a vast array of scientific and humanistic disciplines.

Origin

A variant of Harward reflecting the merger of /v/ and /w/ in the dialects of southeastern England; thus from Middle English Herward, Herreward, itself from Old English Hereweard and a doublet of Harward and Hereward. Compare German Herwarth.

Usage

Usually treated as a proper noun and capitalized; when referring to the institution as a whole, it does not take an article.

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