cum laude

American

[koom lou-dey, -duh, -dee, kuhm law-dee] / kʊm ˈlaʊ deɪ, -də, -di, kʌm ˈlɔ di /

adverb

with honor: used in diplomas to grant the lowest of three special honors for grades above the average.

cum laude British

/ kʊm ˈlaʊdeɪ, kʌm ˈlɔːdɪ /

adverb

with praise: the lowest of three designations for above-average achievement in examinations Compare magna cum laude summa cum laude

"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 cum laude

1890–95, < Latin: with praise

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:

cum laude

He graduated summa cum laude from New York University in 1948, and earned a master’s in economics two years later and a Ph.D in economics in 1977.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

The faculty also voted to replace GPA with percentile rank as an internal metric for prizes and honors such as cum laude.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

He received his BA summa cum laude from Indiana University in 1995 and his JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1998.

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2025

A magna cum laude graduate, she majored in political science in college and was deeply involved in campus social affairs, especially in anti- discrimination and anti-nuclear issues.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023