ivory tower
a place or attitude detached from ordinary life
What it means
An ivory tower is a position or mindset of intellectual or social detachment from the practical concerns and difficulties of everyday life — most often used about academics, theorists, or elites. The phrase usually carries criticism, suggesting that those 'in their ivory tower' don't really understand the real-world impact of what they discuss.
Examples
- Critics say economists work too much in their ivory tower.
- She left her ivory tower at the university to advise the government.
- Policy made in an ivory tower rarely survives contact with reality.
- His ivory-tower views on poverty annoyed the local council.
Where it comes from
The image is drawn from the Song of Solomon in the Bible ('thy neck is as a tower of ivory') and was revived in 19th-century French literary criticism — Sainte-Beuve used 'tour d'ivoire' in 1837 to describe the poet Alfred de Vigny's aloof artistic stance. The phrase then passed into English and broadened to academia and elite detachment.
Related idioms
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