Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

red brick university

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.19 in modern English

Syllables: red brick- u-ni-ver-si-ty
IPA

33

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

6

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any traditional British university other than Oxford or Cambridge, especially one founded in the Victorian age in a large city.

British usage

Example Sentences

"It took a while before he told me his background: a happy childhood; two degrees—a bachelor's from a red brick university and an Oxbridge PhD; a relatively high-flying job in academia that he liked rather than loved."

Etymology

From the memoir Redbrick University by Edgar Allison Peers, whose titular university is based on the University of Liverpool. Liverpool, like most urban universities of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, extensively uses red clay bricks in its architecture.

Usage

British usage

Inflected Forms

red brick universities (plural) redbrick university (alternative)

Phrases

plate-glass university

Frequently Paired Words

Oxbridge plate-glass university

Questions

What does red brick university mean?: Any traditional British university other than Oxford or Cambridge, especially one founded in the Victorian age in a large city.
Where does red brick university come from?: From the memoir Redbrick University by Edgar Allison Peers, whose titular university is based on the University of Liverpool. Liverpool, like most urban universities of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, extensively uses red clay bricks in its architecture.

How to pronounce red brick university

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