Ivory Tower Definition & Meaning

American

British

Idioms

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Synonyms ivory tower American

noun

1. a place or situation remote from worldly or practical affairs.

   the university as an ivory tower.

2. an attitude of aloofness from or disdain or disregard for worldly or practical affairs.

   his ivory tower of complacency.

ivory tower British / ˈtaʊə /

noun

1. 1. seclusion or remoteness of attitude regarding real problems, everyday life, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      ivory-tower aestheticism

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 ivory tower Idioms

1. A place or attitude of retreat, remoteness from everyday affairs, as in What does the professor know about student life, living as he does in an ivory tower? This term is a translation of the French tour d'ivoire, which the critic Saint-Beuve used to describe the attitude of poet Alfred de Vigny in 1837. It is used most often in reference to intellectuals and artists who remain complacently aloof.

Other Word Forms

• ivory-towered adjective
• ivory-towerish adjective
• ivory-towerism noun
• ivory-towerist noun
• ivory-towerite noun
• ivorytowerishness noun

Etymology

Origin of ivory tower

Translation of French tour d'ivoire, phrase used by C.A. Sainte-Beuve in reference to the isolated life of the poet A. de Vigny (1837)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“I use these examples to show my team that we can’t be ivory tower operators.”

From The Wall Street Journal

They’re not coming down from the ivory tower like the doctors.

From Los Angeles Times

Is “Homework” about a child who took a remarkably frictionless path, aided by a nation that had invested in civic institutions, from monetary hardship to the ivory tower?

From Los Angeles Times

However, the emphasis is less on any ultimate hookup than on how the distinct pressures of the ivory tower can torment and even destroy its inhabitants.

From Los Angeles Times

The professor in the ivory tower reminds us that words retain meaning.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.