alumnus

[ uh-luhm-nuhs ]
See synonyms for: alumnusalumni on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural a·lum·ni [uh-luhm-nahy]. /əˈlʌm naɪ/.
  1. a graduate or former student of a specific school, college, or university, especially a man: As an alumnus of this university myself, I am proud to dedicate its new building.

  2. a former associate, employee, member, or the like: He invited all the alumni of the library staff to the party.

Origin of alumnus

1
First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin: “foster son, pupil,” equivalent to al- (stem of alere “to suckle, feed, support”) + -u- (from stem-vowel *-o- in interior syllable) + -m(i)nus, originally passive participial suffix, akin to Greek -menos; cf. adult, alimony

usage note For alumnus

Alumnus (in Latin a masculine noun) usually refers to a male graduate or former student; the plural is alumni. An alumna (in Latin a feminine noun) refers to a female graduate or former student; the plural is alumnae. Traditionally, the masculine plural alumni has been used for mixed gender groups and is still widely so used: the alumni of Indiana University. Sometimes, to avoid any suggestion of sexism, both terms are used for mixed groups: the alumni/alumnae of Indiana University or the alumni and alumnae of Indiana University. Some people use the less formal abbreviation alum and its plural alums to avoid the complexities of the Latin forms and their unfamiliar gender inflection. Others use the terms graduate and graduates, though they are not quite equivalent in meaning, to eliminate the use of a masculine plural form to refer to all genders.

Words that may be confused with alumnus

Words Nearby alumnus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alumnus in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for alumnus

alumnus

/ (əˈlʌmnəs) /


nounplural -ni (-naɪ)
  1. mainly US and Canadian a graduate of a school, college, etc

Origin of alumnus

1
C17: from Latin: nursling, pupil, foster son, from alere to nourish

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012