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.
Some have suggested that the bearish impact of a declining population can be avoided by an increasing share of women in the workforce and/or an increasingly educated workforce.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
His enthusiasm for transport more generally has already rubbed off on his co-presenters who say they've become "very educated by Francis on many things during long walks and long drives".
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
“Randy’s one of those people in academia who is very well educated but doesn’t have an ounce of superiority about him,” said John Irving, who frequently guest lectures in Boyagoda’s classroom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Sixteen of 25 studies—64%—on social and emotional development found positive outcomes for the home educated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
What is important for our immediate purposes is the way in which his discussion echoes through the later literature on the law of nature, for of course Montaigne was read by all the educated.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
