Dictionary.com

alumnus

[ uh-luhm-nuhs ]
/ əˈlʌm nəs /
See synonyms for: alumnus / alumni on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural a·lum·ni [uh-luhm-nahy]. /əˈlʌm naɪ/.

a graduate or former student of a specific school, college, or university, especially a male.
a former associate, employee, member, or the like: He invited all the alumni of the library staff to the party.

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Origin of alumnus

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 groups composed of both sexes 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 any need for using a masculine plural form to refer to both sexes.

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH alumnus

alum, alumna, alumnae, alumni , alumnus

Words nearby alumnus

aluminum silicate, aluminum soap, aluminum sulfate, alumna, alumni, alumnus, Alum Rock, alumroot, Alundum, alunite, alunogen
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to alumnus

alum, alumna, postgraduate

Example sentences from the Web for alumnus

British Dictionary definitions for alumnus

alumnus
/ (əˈlʌmnəs) /

noun plural -ni (-naɪ)

mainly US and Canadian a graduate of a school, college, etc

Word Origin for alumnus

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