Ivory Tower Definition

noun

A condition or place, as academia, regarded as isolated or withdrawn from the practical affairs of society.

Webster's New World

A place or attitude of retreat, especially preoccupation with lofty, remote, or intellectual considerations rather than practical everyday life.

American Heritage

adjective

Separated from reality and practical matters; overly academic.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Ivory Tower

Singular:

ivory tower

Plural:

ivory-towers

First attested in English in a translation of Laughter by French philosopher Henri Bergson (translation 1911 by Frederick Rothwell and Cloudesley Shovell Henry Brereton). Term popularized in The Ivory Tower (1917) by Henry James, though used in different sense (millionaires, not professors).

From Wiktionary
Figurative sense from French tour d'ivoire, coined by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve in the poem Pensés d’Août (Thoughts of August) (1837) to compare the poet Alfred de Vigny (more isolated) with Victor Hugo (more socially engaged), in the line:

From Wiktionary
Translation of French tour d'ivoire tour tower de of ivoire ivory

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Originally Song of Solomon 7:4, used as simile for the woman’s beautiful neck:

From Wiktionary
1911, calque of French figurative use, based on literal biblical phrase.

From Wiktionary