doctorate
Americannoun
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doctorates
plural
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any of several academic degrees of the highest rank, as the Ph.D. or Ed.D., awarded by universities and some colleges for completing advanced work in graduate school or a professional school.
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an honorary degree conferring the title of doctor upon the recipient, as with the LL.D. degree.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of doctorate
First recorded in 1670–80; from Medieval Latin doctōrātus; see doctor, -ate 3
Explanation
A doctorate is an advanced university degree. Another name for a doctorate is a PhD. If you stick in school long enough, you just might end up with a doctorate (and a whole lot of debt). Many years of specialized study can result in a doctorate, which qualifies the graduate to teach at a college or university. To be awarded a doctorate, a student has to complete a dissertation or thesis, a huge research project that focuses on her area of study. Someone who has a doctorate is known as a "Doctor of Philosophy," and the word itself comes from the Medieval Latin root doctoratus, or "made a doctor."
Vocabulary lists containing doctorate
The Chosen
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Silent to the Bone
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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:
A physicist by training, Amodei turned to biology for his doctorate.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
A native of Ireland, Madigan earned a mathematics degree and a doctorate in statistics from Trinity College Dublin and worked in insurance and technology consulting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
If anything, a doctorate made it easier to obfuscate the truth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
After completing her doctorate, Ruane worked with Austin at LSU in 2016.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Myself and one very smart guy, much smarter than me, I should say” — a wondering shake of the head here — “who got his doctorate from MIT.”
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Many college grads pursue doctorates to escape the real world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
That is the entire story, and there are people with doctorates who cannot say it out loud.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
I work for a company that employs people like me: writers with doctorates, a need for cash and very few marketable skills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Recipients of honorary doctorates tend not to use the Dr honorific despite technically being able to out of deference to those who have undertaken the academic work to receive a PhD.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025
In 2007, the University of Wisconsin conferred doctorates on 13 women who showed their determination, strength, and bravery in the Space Race with accomplishments that paved the way for generations.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
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.
