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a secondary or high school, especially a private one.
a school or college for special instruction or training in a subject:
a military academy.
an association or institution for the advancement of art, literature, or science:
the National Academy of Arts and Letters.
a group of authorities and leaders in a field of scholarship, art, etc., who are often permitted to dictate standards, prescribe methods, and criticize new ideas.
the Academy.

the Platonic school of philosophy or its adherents.
(def 3).
.
.

Contemporary Examples

“He lived through the academy Awards and died about 18 months later of a stroke,” Hunt said.
The Cult of Linda Hunt Jace Lacob September 25, 2011

Which of the 10 will claim the academy Award on Sunday night?
Oscar’s 10 Best Pictures The Daily Beast Video March 1, 2010

The hallowed academy has shown itself more than willing to ignore the lead of its glitzier, brasher trophy-wielding cousin.
Golden Globe Nominations: The Winners and Losers Richard Rushfield December 14, 2011

Entertainment institutions like the academy have a duty to use their clout wisely.
Juvenile Misogynist Seth MacFarlane Is Not Funny Amy Zimmerman June 2, 2014

His film, The Fog of War , won an academy Award in 2004 for Best Documentary Feature.
Frederick Wiseman’s Best Scenes Errol Morris November 21, 2009

Historical Examples

For an investigation of this also the academy of Sciences offered their prize.
History of Astronomy George Forbes

“She’d have to go to an academy first to get fitten for it,” said Ma.
The Bacillus of Beauty Harriet Stark

After the death of Plato, the academy continued, under various leaders, to follow in the path marked out by the founder.
A Critical History of Greek Philosophy W. T. Stace

I want, sir, if you please, to be admitted to draw at the academy.
Self-Help Samuel Smiles

“The academy is open, Madge,” he said quickly; then ran his eye down the long columns.
The Boy Artist. F.M. S.

noun (pl) -mies
an institution or society for the advancement of literature, art, or science
a school for training in a particular skill or profession: a military academy
a secondary school: now used only as part of a name, and often denoting a private school
noun the Academy

the grove or garden near Athens where Plato taught in the late 4th century bc
the school of philosophy founded by Plato
the members of this school and their successors

short for the French Academy, Royal Academy
n.

late 15c., “the classical Academy,” from French Académie, from Latin Academia, from Greek Akademeia “grove of Akademos,” a legendary Athenian of the Trojan War tales (his name apparently means “of a silent district”), whose estate, six stadia from Athens, was the enclosure where Plato taught his school.

The A[cademy], the Garden, the Lyceum, the Porch, the Tub, are names used for the five chief schools of Greek philosophy, their founders, adherents, & doctrines: the A., Plato, the Platonists & Platonism; the Garden, Epicurus, the Epicureans, & Epicureanism; the Lyceum, Aristotle, the Aristotelians, & Aristotelianism; the Porch, Zeno, the Stoics, & Stoicism; the Tub, Antisthenes, the Cynics, & Cynicism. [Fowler]

Sense broadened 16c. into “any school or training place.” Academy awards (1941) so called for their distributor, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Related Terms

laughing academy