live in an/(one's) ivory tower



Like this video? Subscribe to our free daily email and get a new idiom video every day!

live in an/(one's) ivory tower

To reside or exist in a place or among a social circle that is characterized by effete academic intelligence and thus is out of touch with or aloof from the realities of life. I don't put much weight in the advice of a bunch of economists living in their ivory towers who've never worked a real job in their lives. It seemed easy to solve all the world's problems when I was living in an ivory tower. Now that I'm out of college, I realize things are so much more complex than I'd imagined.
See also: ivory, live, tower

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Adam['ædəm]
JuliaJOO-lee-ə (English), YOO-lee-ah (German, Swedish, Danish, Finnish), HOO-lyah (Spanish), YUWL-yah (Polish), YOO-lee-yah (Russian), YOO:-lee-ah (Ancient Roman)English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, An
Asukaah-soo-kahJapanese
EoinO-inIrish, Scottish
Khodadad-Persian
Henye-Yiddish