dissertation
Americannoun
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dissertations
plural
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a written essay, treatise, or thesis, especially one written by a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
-
any formal discourse in speech or writing.
noun
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a written thesis, often based on original research, usually required for a higher degree
-
a formal discourse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dissertation
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin dissertātiōn-, stem of dissertātiō, equivalent to dissert + -ation
Explanation
A dissertation is a long piece of writing that uses research to bring to light an original idea. Don't go to grad school unless you're prepared to write, say, a 300-page dissertation on some topic. In everyday speech, we sometimes accuse people of delivering dissertations when they overload us with dull information. If you're annoyed with a long memo from your office manager about keeping the kitchen clean, you could mutter to a coworker, “How’d you like that dissertation Felix posted about rinsing out our mugs?”
Vocabulary lists containing dissertation
100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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The Kite Runner
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The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
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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:
My father and the others could give a dissertation on different types of screws: steel, stainless steel, iron, aluminum, thread angles and thickness, and on and on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
In the years since, Duke and his colleagues have expanded on the initial scope of his dissertation to compile more evidence from a larger collection of samples.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
She suggested that Schroeder examine some of the undescribed specimens as part of her dissertation, according to the news release.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
On July 21, 2026, Nathan Cofnas, an American philosopher working at Ghent University in Belgium, wrote a Substack post detailing how he submitted Arday’s 2015 dissertation to Copyleaks, a plagiarism detection platform.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
She went on to write a PhD dissertation on the effect of formal rhetoric on Shakespeare’s language, and remained an evangelist for the use of the trivium in education.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Since its introduction, fifteen dissertations and final theses at Freie Universität have focused on the topic, along with seven additional dissertations completed by researchers in other countries.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 7, 2026
After studying neuroscience and writing two dissertations, she was off to Stanford for a law degree and math Ph.D.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
"We're doing our dissertations, final-year exams and assignments. I could not even apply for certain postgrad opportunities."
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2025
In fact, we first sketched out our plan to link cultural values and microbiology while writing our Ph.D. dissertations at our local deli in St. Louis, Missouri.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2024
Baba would enlighten me with his politics during those walks with long-winded dissertations.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
