Word.ws English Dictionary

real school

UK/ˈrɪəl ˌskuːl/US/ˈril ˌskul/

real school noun: a secondary school (especially in German-speaking countries) teaching a curriculum of "real-world" subjects (math, science, modern languages) rather than one heavily laden with literature, Latin, and Ancient Greek.

Noun

real school (plural real schools)

  1. (historical) A secondary school (especially in German-speaking countries) teaching a curriculum of "real-world" subjects (math, science, modern languages) rather than one heavily laden with literature, Latin, and Ancient Greek.
    • The duke of Brunswick... has caused real schools, in contra-distinction to verbal, to be erected at Brunswick.1765, Johann Gottlob Krueger, An Essay on the Education of Children, page 65
    • Realschulen, real schools... because they are less occupied with the study of languages (Verbalia) than with the knowledge of things (Realia).1833 July, W. Hamilton, Edinburgh Review, page 521
    Synonyms:
    Realgymnasium, Reformrealgymnasium, realshule

Synonyms of real school

Forms of real school

pluralreal schools
alternative formReal School

Origin of real school

Calque of German Realschule, from real (“real”) + Schule (“school”), from the view that classical education at Gymnasia was not fit for the real world.

Questions about real school

What does real school mean?
Real school means a secondary school (especially in German-speaking countries) teaching a curriculum of "real-world" subjects (math, science, modern languages) rather than one heavily laden with literature, Latin, and Ancient Greek.
What part of speech is real school?
Real school is a noun.
How do you pronounce real school?
Real school is pronounced /ˈrɪəl ˌskuːl/ (UK).
What is the plural of real school?
The plural of real school is real schools.

Words near real school in the dictionary

  1. real property taxes
  2. real quick
  3. real reality
  4. real right
  5. real rights
  6. real school
  7. real schools
  8. real socialism
  9. real soon now
  10. real storage
  11. real superhero

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: real school (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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