educated
Americanadjective
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having undergone education.
educated people.
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characterized by or displaying qualities of culture and learning.
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based on some information or experience.
an educated estimate of next year's sales.
adjective
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having an education, esp a good one
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displaying culture, taste, and knowledge; cultivated
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(prenominal) based on experience or information (esp in the phrase an educated guess )
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of educated
Explanation
If you're educated, you've been to school or college, or otherwise been instructed or trained. Using long, fancy words will either make people think you're educated or that you're a show-off. When you make an educated decision about something, you've learned about the subject before making up your mind — you've been educated or educated yourself, and you understand it completely. An educated conversation or debate about a topic is one in which both sides have knowledge about the issues. Educated comes from educate, with its Latin root, educare, which means both "educate" and "bring up or rear children."
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.
I have some pretty good educated guesses about what happened.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
Earlier this year, a report by the Sutton Trust found cricket to be one of the most elitist jobs in the country, with 59% of male professionals and 50% of women privately educated.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
We have taken what we already know about superfluid helium and quantum technologies and turned that into an educated design, with the parameters and specifications needed to build one.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
“I do believe that my children would have been able to reclassify much earlier if the law had changed earlier and if I, as a mother, would have educated myself earlier,” Carbajal Salmerón said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
He said he loved her but felt obligated to keep his parents, and the wider public, in the dark until she was properly educated, and he had returned from the Arctic in triumph.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
