ivory tower meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

ivory tower

noun

UK /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊə/ · US /ˈaɪvəɹi ˈtaʊɚ/

Etymology Calque of French tour d'ivoire, based on a biblical phrase, coined by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve to compare the poet Alfred de Vigny (more isolated) with Victor Hugo (more socially engaged). First attested in English in a translation of Laughter by French philosopher Henri Bergson (1911). The term was popularized in The Ivory Tower (1917) by Henry James, though used in different sense (millionaires, not professors).

Idiomatic A sheltered, overly-academic existence or perspective, implying a disconnection or lack of awareness of reality or practical considerations.

Such a proposal looks fine from an ivory tower, but it could never work in real life.
Hamilton College is an ivory tower with an open bar, and so I - who work and play equally hard - have come to love this place, and have been dead-set against leaving it.2005, Daniel Walker, Valedictory speech for Hamilton College:

1 more example

Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2020:

Derived terms: ivory-towered, ivory-towerism, ivory-towerist

ivory tower

adj

Separated from reality and practical matters; overly academic.

The majority of librarians appear to have shown a very ivory tower approach to the application of all types of management technique to librarianship.1968, New Library World, volumes 69-70, page 8:
I must say that, with all due respect, I think that's a very ivory tower approach.1995, Hearings relating to Madison Guaranty S&L and the Whitewater Development Corporation, Washington, DC phase, page 504:

2 more examples

Bob Woodruff, an anchor and correspondent for ABC News who arrived in New Orleans the Wednesday after the storm hit, calls the detached-observer ideal "a very ivory tower notion that's not practiced in the field."2007, Joan Gorham, Annual Editions: Mass Media 07/08, page 158:
Griswold was perhaps the most ivory tower president of Yale in the twentieth century, and in many ways the university turned toward conservatism in the decade after his inauguration, in 1950.2004, Geoffrey Kabaservice, The Guardians, page 154:

Related terms: armchair, cloisterism