undergraduate
Americannoun
adjective
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having the standing of an undergraduate.
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of, for, pertaining to, or characteristic of undergraduates.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of undergraduate
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How does undergraduate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
An undergraduate is a college or university student who's not a graduate student. After high school, you can become an undergraduate. Undergraduates are students of universities and colleges: they've graduated from high school and have been accepted to college, but they haven't graduated yet. If the under in undergraduate seems confusing, that's because there are also graduate students, students who have a college degree but are no longer undergraduates and are pursuing an advanced degree, like a Master's or Ph.D. Lots of people say being an undergraduate was one of the best times of their lives: it's an exciting thing to be.
Vocabulary lists containing undergraduate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Despite having an undergraduate and a master's degree, Sophie said she had applied for 300 jobs in the past year with just one interview and no success.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
It’s also more common to work a job that is disconnected from your undergraduate major.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
"During a recreational dive in the summer during the undergraduate study of HY Chan in 2019, he accidentally discovered Thecacera sesama sp. nov. in northern Taiwan waters," the researchers said.
From Science Daily • May 27, 2026
She got her master of fine arts degree in art from ArtCenter College of Design’s graduate art program, where she works as the undergraduate and graduate art departments’ chair and a longtime graduate art professor.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
“Any undergraduate could see that nuclear physics using artificial beams of high-energy protons and helium ions was such a field, and ... he should stake out a territory there to work and grow in.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
