graduate
Americannoun
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graduates
plural
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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.
-
a student who holds the bachelor's or the first professional degree and is studying for an advanced degree.
-
a graduated cylinder, used for measuring.
adjective
-
of, relating to, or involved in academic study beyond the first or bachelor's degree.
graduate courses in business; a graduate student.
-
having an academic degree or diploma.
a graduate engineer.
verb (used without object)
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graduates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
graduated,
past participle, past
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graduating
present participle
-
to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study (often followed byfrom ).
She graduated from college in 1985.
-
to pass by degrees; change gradually.
verb (used with object)
-
graduates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
graduated,
past participle, past
-
graduating
present participle
-
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
-
-
a person who has been awarded a first degree from a university or college
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( as modifier )
a graduate profession
-
-
a student who has completed a course of studies at a high school and received a diploma
-
a container, such as a flask, marked to indicate its capacity
verb
-
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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graduatesimple
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graduatessimple
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have graduatedperfect
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has graduatedperfect
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am graduatingprogressive
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are graduatingprogressive
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is graduatingprogressive
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have been graduatingperfect progressive
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has been graduatingperfect progressive
Past
-
graduatedsimple
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had graduatedperfect
-
was graduatingprogressive
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were graduatingprogressive
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had been graduatingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
Stupnikov, a recent graduate from a prestigious military academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, had a secret.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Stephen Piazza, a professor of kinesiology at Penn State, also participated in the research, along with several current and former graduate students working with Piazza and Rubenson.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
One recently employed trainee accountant, who didn't want us to use his real name, told the BBC he'd applied for 50 graduate jobs and used AI in every application.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
William Amaya added that he is a graduate of Franklin and there used to be one or more officers on campus who broke up fights and deterred others with their presence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
At the clinic, Dr. Han was greeted immediately by Nurse Pak, a recent graduate of a nursing high school, who was training with Head Nurse Cha.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
Schools should be evaluated on the performance of their graduates in subsequent training and operational units.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
It’s in the second half of the novel, after Batter graduates from college, that the plot gains momentum and begins to soar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
We are increasingly using the technology to help us with job applications, graduates, external and recruiters say, with many employers happy for us to do so within reason.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Students and graduates across the UK have different student loan plans depending on when and where they studied.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
We had been told over and over again by the principal, Dr. Alexander Kerr, and Professors Jabavu and Matthews how, as graduates of Fort Hare, we were the African elite.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
After going 7-3 and breaking the school’s single-season touchdown passing record Croick once held, all of the team’s star players graduated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
One of those wrongly identified was a Chinese American whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as a New York-based finance professional who graduated from Cornell University in 2020 -- four years before the alleged rape.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The 42-year-old political strategist graduated from law school at Pepperdine University in California in 2011, the university confirmed.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
By the time they graduated middle school in 2015, only about 14.2 million walked across the stage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Mr. Richardson, newly graduated from law school, was busy building his practice, working long hours in an attempt to make partner.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
After graduating with degrees in Spanish and rhetoric and communications studies, Horton played professionally in Europe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after graduating from law school at Pepperdine University in 2011, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, but she didn’t pass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
"I just had no concept that the debt was going to go up," says Libby, who remembers being in tears when her first student loan letter came through after graduating.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
"We are glad that Rooppur is known to the world, and my friends and I hope that we will work at the plant after graduating from engineering schools," he added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
But so is graduating from high school and leaving it behind.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
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