noun

1. (usually capitalized) The garden where Plato taught.

2. (usually capitalized) Plato's philosophical system based on skepticism; Plato's followers.

3. An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university; typically a private school.

4. A school or place of training in which some special art is taught.

   "the military academy at West Point; a riding academy; the Academy of Music.; a music academy; a language academy"

5. A society of learned people united for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science.

6. The knowledge disseminated in an Academy.

7. (with the, without reference to any specific academy) Academia.

8. A body of established opinion in a particular field, regarded as authoritative.

9. A school directly funded by central government, independent of local control.