— ivory-towered, ivory-towerish , adj. — ivory-towerism, ivorytowerishness , n. — ivory-towerist, ivory-towerite , n.
1. a place or situation remote from worldly or practical affairs: the university as an ivory tower.
2. an attitude of aloofness from or disdain or disregard for worldly or practical affairs: his ivory tower of complacency.
[ trans. of F tour d'ivoire, phrase used by C.A. Sainte-Beuve in reference to the isolated life of the poet A. de Vigny (1837) ]