ENGLISH
REFERENCE

yale

n. uncountable
C1 Advanced US //ˈjeɪɫ// yale Archaic

n. a famous and very old university in the United States. It is part of the Ivy League and is known for being very difficult to get into.

n. a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, founded in 1701. Often used as a metonym for elite American higher education or the social status associated with its graduates.


SIMPLE

She studied law at Yale.

CONTEXTUAL

After years of hard work and perfect grades, he finally received an acceptance letter from Yale.

COMPLEX

The architectural landscape of Yale is defined by its Gothic Revival colleges, which were designed to evoke the scholarly traditions of Oxford and Cambridge within an American context.

Origin

Ultimately borrowed from Welsh Iâl, from iâl (“clearing, cultivated upland”). The surname is habitational. The university is named for Elihu Yale, a notable early benefactor.

Usage

Usually functions as a proper noun without an article; can be used as a noun adjunct as in 'a Yale student'.

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