Ivy League

3 synonyms for Ivy League, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A group of eight long-established, highly selective private universities in the north-eastern United States: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Pennsylvania and Yale. Formally it is their athletic conference, but the name is used for the schools themselves.

Synonyms

Everyday swaps

Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.

elite

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

preppy blue-blooded

How to use Ivy League

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

Ivy League school Ivy League education Ivy League graduate non-Ivy League

Neutral as a proper noun; the adjective often carries a hint of snobbery.

Etymology

From earlier Ivy colleges (1933), as Ivy League first used by AP sports editor Alan J. Gould (1935). The title became official after the formation of the athletic conference in 1954. From the tradition of Ivy Day at many older colleges and universities, where ivy is planted to honor academic excellence.

Full origin of Ivy League →

Frequently asked questions

Which universities are in the Ivy League?

There are eight: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. All are private, all are in the north-eastern United States, and all but Cornell were founded before American independence.

Is Stanford or MIT in the Ivy League?

No. Both are equally or more selective, but the Ivy League is a specific athletic conference of eight north-eastern schools, and neither belongs to it. People sometimes call them 'Ivy Plus' informally.

Why is it called the Ivy League?

The name refers to the ivy growing on the old campus buildings, and it became the official title of the sports conference formed by the eight schools in the middle of the twentieth century. Various colourful origin stories circulate, but the ivy explanation is the one the universities themselves use.

People also searched

elite preppy

Nearby words

← Back to the full definition of Ivy League