graduate

[ noun, adjective graj-oo-it, -eyt; verb graj-oo-eyt ]

/ noun, adjective ˈgrædʒ u ɪt, -ˌeɪt; verb ˈgrædʒ uˌeɪt /

See synonyms for: graduate / graduated / graduating on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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

a graduated cylinder, used for measuring.

adjective

of, relating to, or involved in academic study beyond the first or bachelor's degree: graduate courses in business; a graduate student.

having an academic degree or diploma: a graduate engineer.

verb (used without object), grad·u·at·ed, grad·u·at·ing.

to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study (often followed by from): She graduated from college in 1985.

to pass by degrees; change gradually.

verb (used with object), grad·u·at·ed, grad·u·at·ing.

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.

Informal. to receive a degree or diploma from: She graduated college in 1950.

to arrange in grades or gradations; establish gradation in.

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

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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-ate¹

usage note for graduate

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 WORDS FROM graduate

grad·u·a·tor, nounnon·grad·u·ate, nounsu·per·grad·u·ate, nounun·grad·u·at·ing, adjective

Words nearby graduate

gradiometer, gradual, gradualism, gradually, graduand, graduate, graduated, graduated cylinder, graduated tenotomy, graduate nurse, graduate school

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for graduate

Jiménez said she moved to Tijuana around 12 years ago after she graduated from high school.
Tijuana authorities criticized over handling of transgender woman’s murder|Michael K. Lavers|September 17, 2020|Washington Blade
Finally, Ken Wilson — a former graduate student of Gell-Mann with feet in the worlds of both particle physics and condensed matter — united the ideas of Gell-Mann and Low with those of Kadanoff.
How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics|Charlie Wood|September 17, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Of the 180 graduates of the program, 172 are still actively pursuing their businesses as of last year.
Cincinnati’s Secret Sauce to Help Minority Businesses Succeed|Nick Fouriezos|September 15, 2020|Ozy
They’ve now graduated to a different school that predates the Mussolini years.
A flurry of M&A deals lifts global stocks. Yes, even tech stocks|Bernhard Warner|September 14, 2020|Fortune

About six years ago, food microbiologist David Mills of the University of California, Davis and graduate student Nicholas Bokulich, now a food microbiologist at ETH Zurich, discovered that groups of microbes may help shape the flavor of wine.
How does a crop’s environment shape a food’s smell and taste?|Carolyn Beans|September 10, 2020|Science News
HONG KONG—Last year, I met a Chinese graduate student on a tour of the northeastern United States before his first day at Harvard.
China’s Internet Is Freer Than You Think|Brendon Hong|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The whys the wherefores, I think a lot of that is somehow a link from decoding texts, as they say in graduate school.
Daphne Merkin on Lena Dunham, Book Criticism, and Self-Examination|Mindy Farabee|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Girma is a 26-year-old Harvard Law School graduate—and she is blind and deaf.
TEDx Talks Have a Disability Problem—but This Incredible Young Woman Is Working to Change That|Nina Strochlic|November 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On-time graduation (10%): Percentage of students who graduate within four years (NCES).
The Daily Beast College Rankings Methodology|Brandy Zadrozny|November 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So we have a graduate of Choate or Beverly Hills High who attends Wharton, and goes to work for, say, Goldman Sachs.
Trustafarians Want to Tell You How to Live|Joel Kotkin|October 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He went east for a year of graduate study at Columbia University.
Americans All|Various
He was a graduate of the University of Oxford, and afterwards had charge of a large private school in one of the English counties.
Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years|Samuel Thompson
Benton was not his real name, and he was not a graduate of any American college.
Ray's Daughter|Charles King
We four intend to come back to Highacres to watch you graduate just as you watched us today.
Meg of Mystery Mountain|Grace May North
No lawyer would trust his case to a West-Point graduate, without evidence of thorough special preparation.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864|Various

British Dictionary definitions for graduate

graduate

noun (ˈɡrædjʊɪt)

a person who has been awarded a first degree from a university or college
(as modifier)a graduate profession

US and Canadian a student who has completed a course of studies at a high school and received a diploma

US a container, such as a flask, marked to indicate its capacity

verb (ˈɡrædjʊˌeɪt)

to receive or cause to receive a degree or diploma

(tr) mainly US and Canadian to confer a degree, diploma, etc upon

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

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

(intr often foll by to) to change by degrees (from something to something else)

Derived forms of graduate

graduator, noun

Word Origin for graduate

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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