ivory tower
noun
1
: an impractical often escapist attitude marked by aloof lack of concern with or interest in practical matters or urgent problems
2
: a secluded place that affords the means of treating practical issues with an impractical often escapist attitude
especially
: a place of learning
Examples of ivory tower in a Sentence
The book was written by some college professor who's spent her entire professional life in an ivory tower.
Recent Examples on the Web
The same is true with regard to the corporate and media boardrooms, the ivory towers of academia and America’s penthouses.
—
Lonnie Groot, Orlando Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2025
In that politically fraught decade, both anti-Fascists and Fascists decried the ivory tower.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Fukuyama's grand vision was, by the mid-2000s, a cautionary tale about the dangers of pat certitudes in ivory towers.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Dec. 2024
Isn’t the genre about getting into people’s psyche through a back door, not climbing an ivory tower?
—Maya Ibbitson, Architectural Digest, 23 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ivory tower 
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Lonnie Groot, Orlando Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2025
In that politically fraught decade, both anti-Fascists and Fascists decried the ivory tower.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Fukuyama's grand vision was, by the mid-2000s, a cautionary tale about the dangers of pat certitudes in ivory towers.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 27 Dec. 2024
Isn’t the genre about getting into people’s psyche through a back door, not climbing an ivory tower?
—Maya Ibbitson, Architectural Digest, 23 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ivory tower
Dictionary Entries Near ivory tower
Cite this Entry
“Ivory tower.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ivory%20tower. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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