graduate

American  

[graj-oo-it, -eyt, graj-oo-eyt] / ˈgrædʒ u ɪt, -ˌeɪt, ˈgrædʒ uˌeɪt /

noun

• graduates
  plural

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.

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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)

• graduates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• graduated,
  past participle,  past
• graduating
  present participle

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)

• graduates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• graduated,
  past participle,  past
• graduating
  present participle

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 British  

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

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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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• graduates
  plural

Participles

• graduating
  present
• graduated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• graduate
  simple
• graduates
  simple
• have graduated
  perfect
• has graduated
  perfect
• am graduating
  progressive
• are graduating
  progressive
• is graduating
  progressive
• have been graduating
  perfect progressive
• has been graduating
  perfect progressive

Past

• graduated
  simple
• had graduated
  perfect
• was graduating
  progressive
• were graduating
  progressive
• had been graduating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will graduate
  simple
• will have graduated
  perfect
• will be graduating
  progressive
• will have been graduating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of graduate

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

Explanation

To graduate means to successfully complete your schooling, to become "a graduate." When you graduate from high school, you become a high school graduate and congratulations are in order. A graduate is someone who has received a degree from a school. As a verb graduate refers to the act of receiving this degree “I plan to graduate from college in the spring,” or the act of giving a degree “I want to graduate all of my students.” In a scientific sense, graduate can mean to calibrate for fine adjustments. To make a thermometer, you have to graduate it by degrees so it displays a range of temperatures.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

graduate graduates graduated graduating

“It was really mean,” said Virginia Sturm, who ran these tests for years as a graduate student at Berkeley.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Then, at a little film school gathering at my friend’s house somewhere in Boyle Heights, I saw a friend from graduate school from across the room.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Jacqueline Griswold, a Johns Hopkins graduate student and the study's first author, tested the idea.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

For international student and graduate visas, Burke said: "We will no longer be adding to the stock of students automatically being able to bring family members over."

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Some were lawyers and well-known citizens, such as Samuel Adams of Boston, a graduate of Harvard and cousin of John Adams, a future President of the United States.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

The latest unemployment reading from August was 4.1% — which is still a relatively low figure from a historical perspective, but it’s a cooler job market than previous years, particularly for recent college graduates.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

If software can handle the basic work once given to new graduates, companies have less incentive to hire beginners who need to learn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

A recent government report found that just over 8% of graduates find jobs aligned with their skills.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Stanford and MIT graduates are doing just fine, but a stampede of students into this major over the last two decades produced more coders than companies need.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Both were graduates of Hampton Institute in Virginia.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

He never graduated from college, and has a relatively limited record in running businesses, doing deals or managing a vast portfolio of stock investments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

When Tanisha Saunders graduated from college eight years ago, she felt optimistic that she was on her way to achieving an American dream that included homeownership.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

Oliver Walker graduated from the University of Liverpool in May and one week later started a graduate role working on social media campaigns for a marketing agency.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

She graduated from École Nationale de Cirque in Montreal a year ago and is now on her first musical tour.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

On the ragged edge, a neat person had printed in blue ink, “P.A.” and the year the actor, dancer, or musician had graduated.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Before her move to England, Fernandez spent her career at Barcelona, graduating from their academy and becoming a five-time league champion.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

His graduating class included former tech executive and philanthropist Sheryl Sandberg, Hollywood filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and the writer Colson Whitehead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Four states — California, Delaware, Colorado and Hawaii — are now mandating that students take a semester-long personal-finance course before graduating.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

He enlisted in the Marine Corps seven days after graduating high school in 1957, and he considers his two years at Camp Pendleton among the most important of his life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

We marched up the middle of the aisle, banked on both sides by rows of seats reserved for our graduating class.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

Related Words

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