ivory tower
a place or situation remote from worldly or practical affairs: the university as an ivory tower.
an attitude of aloofness from or disdain or disregard for worldly or practical affairs: his ivory tower of complacency.
Origin of ivory tower
1Other words from ivory tower
- i·vo·ry-tow·ered, i·vo·ry-tow·er·ish, adjective
- i·vo·ry-tow·er·ism, i·vo·rytow·er·ish·ness, noun
- i·vo·ry-tow·er·ist, i·vo·ry-tow·er·ite, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for ivory tower
/ (ˈtaʊə) /
seclusion or remoteness of attitude regarding real problems, everyday life, etc
(as modifier): ivory-tower aestheticism
Derived forms of ivory tower
- ivory-towered, adjective
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with ivory tower
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.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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