graduate
Americannoun
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a person who has received a degree or diploma on completing a course of study, as in a university, college, or school.
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a student who holds the bachelor's or the first professional degree and is studying for an advanced degree.
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a graduated cylinder, used for measuring.
adjective
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of, relating to, or involved in academic study beyond the first or bachelor's degree.
graduate courses in business; a graduate student.
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having an academic degree or diploma.
a graduate engineer.
verb (used without object)
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to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study (often followed byfrom ).
She graduated from college in 1985.
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to pass by degrees; change gradually.
verb (used with object)
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to confer a degree upon, or to grant a diploma to, at the close of a course of study, as in a university, college, or school.
Cornell graduated eighty students with honors.
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Informal. to receive a degree or diploma from.
She graduated college in 1950.
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to arrange in grades or gradations; establish gradation in.
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to divide into or mark with degrees or other divisions, as the scale of a thermometer.
noun
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a person who has been awarded a first degree from a university or college
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( as modifier )
a graduate profession
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a student who has completed a course of studies at a high school and received a diploma
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a container, such as a flask, marked to indicate its capacity
verb
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to receive or cause to receive a degree or diploma
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(tr) to confer a degree, diploma, etc upon
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(tr) to mark (a thermometer, flask, etc) with units of measurement; calibrate
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(tr) to arrange or sort into groups according to type, quality, etc
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to change by degrees (from something to something else)
Usage
In the sense “to receive a degree or diploma” graduate followed by from is the most common construction today: Her daughter graduated from Yale in 1981. The passive form was graduated from, formerly insisted upon as the only correct pattern, has decreased in use and occurs infrequently today: My husband was graduated from West Point last year. Even though it is condemned by some as nonstandard, the use of graduate as a transitive verb meaning “to receive a degree or diploma from” is increasing in frequency in both speech and writing: The twins graduated high school in 1974.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has graduatedperfect 3rd person singular
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have graduatedperfect
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are graduatingprogressive
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am graduatingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been graduatingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been graduatingperfect progressive
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graduatessingular 3rd person
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graduatingparticiple
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is graduatingprogressive 3rd person singular
Past
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had graduatedperfect
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was graduatingprogressive singular
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were graduatingprogressive plural
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graduatedparticiple
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had been graduatingperfect progressive
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graduatedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of graduate
1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin graduātus (past participle of graduāre ), equivalent to grad ( us ) grade, step + -u- thematic vowel + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To graduate means to successfully complete your schooling, to become "a graduate." When you graduate from high school, you become a high school graduate and congratulations are in order. A graduate is someone who has received a degree from a school. As a verb graduate refers to the act of receiving this degree “I plan to graduate from college in the spring,” or the act of giving a degree “I want to graduate all of my students.” In a scientific sense, graduate can mean to calibrate for fine adjustments. To make a thermometer, you have to graduate it by degrees so it displays a range of temperatures.
Vocabulary lists containing graduate
A Graduation Lexicon
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Education and Academics, List 1
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for May 22–May 28, 2021
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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.
Elite football programs now expect recruits to graduate from high school in December of their senior year so they can be on campus in January to learn playbooks and train with teammates.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026
The 1990 graduate of South Hills High was passionate about learning the game, walked on to the golf team at the University of Oregon and eventually earned a scholarship.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2026
City have long been admirers of Newcastle academy graduate Anderson and though the player is currently preparing for the tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico, club-to-club talks can continue to take place.
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
Political figures "know it's the only way to talk to young people", added the recent university graduate.
From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026
As a young college graduate, she had regarded suffragists with a skeptical eye.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
