classmate
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of classmate
Explanation
Your classmate is someone who goes to school with you. It's hard to believe when you first start college that some of your classmates will become your very best friends. Your school friends are your classmates, and so are the fellow students you barely know at all. In a small class, you get to know most of your classmates fairly well, while in a large lecture even your teacher might not know all your classmates' names. The word dates from the 18th century, a combination of class, from the Latin classis, "class or division," and mate, "fellow or comrade."
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.
Rather, I’d say scrolling the subreddit is like auditing a university science course where the professor prioritizes discussion, and every classmate is, for once, eager to put their hand in the air.
From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026
It led to her classmate, Olly, playing along with her and convincing his mum to let him go to the same after-school club taught by Laura.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
When Jay Liang, 19, a sophomore at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, started working with Kalshi to recruit new users, he hired his classmate to make a social-media post.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
Marko Dobrasinovic, 24, who made the trek from Chicago to audition, bumped into an old high school classmate, Alyssa Frey, while in line to check in.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2026
There, according to my classmate Buckner, who preceded her to the women’s prison, an older woman inmate was in the habit of bragging to officers about her daughter, the correction officer.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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.
