graduate

[graj-oo-it, -eyt, graj-oo-eyt]

noun

1. a person who has received a degree or diploma on completing a course of study, as in a university, college, or school.

2. a student who holds the bachelor's or the first professional degree and is studying for an advanced degree.

3. a graduated cylinder, used for measuring.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or involved in academic study beyond the first or bachelor's degree.

   graduate courses in business; a graduate student.

2. having an academic degree or diploma.

   a graduate engineer.

verb (used without object)

graduated, graduating 

1. to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study (often followed byfrom ).

   She graduated from college in 1985.

2. to pass by degrees; change gradually.

verb (used with object)

graduated, graduating 

1. to confer a degree upon, or to grant a diploma to, at the close of a course of study, as in a university, college, or school.

   Cornell graduated eighty students with honors.

2. Informal.,  to receive a degree or diploma from.

   She graduated college in 1950.

3. to arrange in grades or gradations; establish gradation in.

4. to divide into or mark with degrees or other divisions, as the scale of a thermometer.

graduate

noun

1. 1. a person who has been awarded a first degree from a university or college

   2. ( as modifier )

      a graduate profession

2. a student who has completed a course of studies at a high school and received a diploma

3. a container, such as a flask, marked to indicate its capacity

verb

1. to receive or cause to receive a degree or diploma

2. (tr) to confer a degree, diploma, etc upon

3. (tr) to mark (a thermometer, flask, etc) with units of measurement; calibrate

4. (tr) to arrange or sort into groups according to type, quality, etc

5. to change by degrees (from something to something else)

Usage

In the sense “to receive a degree or diploma” graduate followed by from is the most common construction today: Her daughter graduated from Yale in 1981. The passive form was graduated from, formerly insisted upon as the only correct pattern, has decreased in use and occurs infrequently today: My husband was graduated from West Point last year. Even though it is condemned by some as nonstandard, the use of graduate as a transitive verb meaning “to receive a degree or diploma from” is increasing in frequency in both speech and writing: The twins graduated high school in 1974.

Other Word Forms

• graduator noun
• nongraduate noun
• supergraduate noun
• ungraduating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of graduate¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin graduātus (past participle of graduāre ), equivalent to grad ( us ) grade, step + -u- thematic vowel + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of graduate¹

C15: from Medieval Latin graduārī to take a degree, from Latin gradus a step

Example Sentences

After graduating Wilson won a fellowship that took him to Europe, where he traveled in Italy and France and studied under Fernand Léger in Paris.

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He entered its pages soon after graduating from college, and once on them he never left.

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While his family has doubled with the addition of two children, his $74,000 in graduate school debt has more than quadrupled to $300,000.

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Former graduate student Nitsan Goldstein found that other critical survival states—such as thirst and fear—can also suppress long-term pain.

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After graduating from Knox in 1964, Brown received a master of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1968 and went to work in ministry.

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Related Words

• alum 
• alumna 
• alumnus 
• doctor 
• grad 
• recipient