educated
Americanadjective
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having undergone education.
educated people.
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characterized by or displaying qualities of culture and learning.
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based on some information or experience.
an educated estimate of next year's sales.
adjective
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having an education, esp a good one
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displaying culture, taste, and knowledge; cultivated
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(prenominal) based on experience or information (esp in the phrase an educated guess )
Other Word Forms
- half-educated adjective
- noneducated adjective
- quasi-educated adjective
- supereducated adjective
- undereducated adjective
- well-educated adjective
Etymology
Origin of educated
Explanation
If you're educated, you've been to school or college, or otherwise been instructed or trained. Using long, fancy words will either make people think you're educated or that you're a show-off. When you make an educated decision about something, you've learned about the subject before making up your mind — you've been educated or educated yourself, and you understand it completely. An educated conversation or debate about a topic is one in which both sides have knowledge about the issues. Educated comes from educate, with its Latin root, educare, which means both "educate" and "bring up or rear children."
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.
One can sympathize with the urge of these young, educated workers to rebel against their situations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
“In general, university retirement communities attract people who are highly educated and had good experiences in college,” said Lindsey Beagley, senior director of lifelong university engagement for Mirabella at ASU.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026
They are educated, aspirational people with nowhere else to put their ambitions.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
"He's very articulate, very educated," said Laura McGarraugh, 52, an emergency room nurse from Austin.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
I took pride in my work—plus I had been raised and educated to value excellence—so the quality of everything I produced was always top-notch.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
