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Synonyms

classmate

American  
[klas-meyt, klahs-] / ˈklæsˌmeɪt, ˈklɑs- /

noun

  1. a member of the same class at a school or college.

classmate British  
/ ˈklɑːsˌmeɪt /

noun

  1. a friend or contemporary of the same class in a school, college, etc

"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

Etymology

Origin of classmate

An Americanism dating back to 1705–15; class + mate 1

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.

But classmate Felix is more relaxed: "You'd get used to it and find other things to do, so I don't think I would really mind."

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

Vauhini Vara, is a tech journalist and the 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist of “The Immortal King Rao,” who spent several years with Mahajan at Stanford as his classmate.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2026

It was those drawings that caught the eye of Geisel's classmate, and fellow American, Helen Palmer.

From BBC • Mar. 2, 2026

The show follows three childhood friends whose very different lives converge at a wake for a former classmate in rural Ireland.

From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026

“But there was a ghost in Gravesend, an old classmate, hit by a car, buried without his foot and really mad about it. He kept messing with the streetlights....”

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

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.