Word.ws English Dictionary

seminary

/ˈsɛmɪnəɹi/US/ˈsɛmənɛɹi/

seminary noun: a theological school for the training of rabbis, priests, or ministers.

Noun

seminary (plural seminaries)

  1. A theological school for the training of rabbis, priests, or ministers.
  2. A private residential school for girls.
    • Three little maids who, all unwary,
      Come from a ladies' seminary1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC
  3. (Mormonism) A class of religious education for youths ages 14–18 that accompanies normal secular education.
  4. A piece of ground where seed is sown for producing plants for transplantation.
    • I shall first begin with the Seminary and Nursery, as what is the first Work to be taken care of where you have not the opportunity of buying Trees1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC
    • [B]ut if you draw them [seedlings] only for the thinning of your Seminary, prick them into ſome empty Beds at one foot interval, leaving the reſt at two or three.1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter II. Of the Seminary.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes]...
  5. (broadly) The place or original stock from which anything is brought or produced.
    • Seeing then there is indeed a twofold Seminary or stock in nature, from whence are deriv’d the issues of love and hatred distinctly flowing through the whole masse of created things, and that Gods doing ever is to bring the due likenesses and harmonies of his workes together, except when out of two...1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
    • the Seminary or Promptuary that furnisheth forth Matter for the Formation and Increment of Animal and Vegetable Bodies1695, John Woodward, “(please specify the page)”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC
  6. (obsolete) Seminal state or polity.
    • The hand of God that first created the Earth, hath with variety disposed the principles of all things; wisely contriving them in their proper seminaries1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
  7. A Roman Catholic priest educated in a foreign seminary; a seminarist.
    • I shall not need to instance in the effects which this bull produced; the treason of Watson and Cleark, two English seminaries, are sufficiently known1638, Jeremy Taylor, Sermon on Gunpowder Treason
  8. (archaic) An academic seminar.

Adjective

seminary (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to seed; seminal.

seminary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

seminary in Hindi

सेमिनरी

seminary in Tamil

குருமடம், குருத்துவக் கல்லூரி, பயிற்சிப்பள்ளி

seminary in Marathi

सेमिनरी

seminary in Urdu

مدرسہ
More languagesFewer languages
seminary in Bengali
মাদ্রাসা madraśa
seminary in Telugu
సెమినరీ
seminary in Malayalam
സെമിനാരി semināri
seminary in Kannada
ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಶಾಲೆ, ತರಬೇತಿ ಶಾಲೆ, ಕಲಿವೆಡೆ, ಪಳಗುವೆಡೆ
seminary in Gujarati
સેમિનરી
seminary in Odia
ସେମିନାରୀ
seminary in Nepali
सेमिनरी, सेमिनारी
seminary in Indonesian
seminari
seminary in Vietnamese
chủng viện

Examples of seminary in a sentence

  • The year between college and seminary was my prime Cage Stage.
  • At 7:30 PM, back in my seminary days, the bell of St.
  • God, the things we used to get up to in the seminary.

All 16 example sentences with seminary

Forms of seminary

pluralseminaries

Plural of seminary: seminaries

Origin of seminary

From Latin sēminārium, from sēmen (“seed”). Compare seminar. In the ground sense, from Middle English semynair, semynary.

Words formed from seminary

Questions about seminary

What does seminary mean?
Seminary means a theological school for the training of rabbis, priests, or ministers.
What is seminary in Hindi?
Seminary in Hindi is सेमिनरी. See Seminary meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is seminary?
Seminary can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce seminary?
Seminary is pronounced /ˈsɛmənɛɹi/ (US).
What is the plural of seminary?
The plural of seminary is seminaries.

Words near seminary in the dictionary

  1. seminarist
  2. seminarists
  3. seminarlike
  4. seminarrative
  5. seminars
  6. seminary
  7. seminasal
  8. seminase
  9. seminases
  10. seminate
  11. seminated

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: seminary (page history and authors); seminary (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seminary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); seminary (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seminary (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); মাদ্রাসা (Bengali) (page history and authors); seminary (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); സെമിനാരി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); seminary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); seminary (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seminary (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seminary (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Cite this entry: “seminary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seminary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.