undergraduate
Americannoun
-
undergraduates
plural
adjective
-
having the standing of an undergraduate.
-
of, for, pertaining to, or characteristic of undergraduates.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of undergraduate
Compare meaning
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.
See Examples For:
Most of the rules that went into effect in July apply to graduate-school funding, but undergraduate loans now count toward a federal lifetime borrowing limit.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Meanwhile a mobile app developed by an undergraduate to direct people to the shadiest walking paths has gained traction online, particularly among students.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Co-lead authors of the paper are Reza Ghanbar, a Ph.D. student at NC State; and Eli Rodrigues, a graduate student at NC State who was involved with this work while still an undergraduate.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
He received his undergraduate degree in architecture from UC Berkeley, working in city planning until he got laid off, which, along with the death of his father, prompted him to pursue his true love: acting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
The way to do this was first to win one of the few scholarships available to an undergraduate and then to gain election, after a few years, to a Fellowship of the college.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
While there had been a "significant drop in international students" - who are largely postgraduates, and who pay higher fees - Hillman said universities were utilising their resources for UK undergraduates instead.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Full-time undergraduates normally resident in Wales are entitled to at least £1,000, external, rising to £1,020 in 2026-27.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
It’s now flooded with standardized public-market data, so much so that undergraduates can readily peer inside and participate on nearly equal footing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Until now, though, they have generally been available only to undergraduates getting associate or bachelor’s degrees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
He was probably one of the oldest undergraduates at college, but he joined the military after high school in Iran and didn't move to Baton Rouge until his early twenties.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
