matriculate

[verb muh-trik-yuh-leyt; noun muh-trik-yuh-lit]

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verb (used with object), ma·tric·u·lat·ed, ma·tric·u·lat·ing.

to enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degree.

to register (a coat of arms), used especially in Scottish heraldry.

verb (used without object), ma·tric·u·lat·ed, ma·tric·u·lat·ing.

to be matriculated.

noun

a person who has been matriculated.

Origin of matriculate

1480–90 for earlier sense; < Medieval Latin mātrīculātus (person) listed (for some specific duty), equivalent to mātrīcul(a) list (see matriculant) + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsma·tric·u·la·tion, nounma·tric·u·la·tor, nounre·ma·tric·u·late, verb, re·ma·tric·u·lat·ed, re·ma·tric·u·lat·ing.un·ma·tric·u·lat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for matriculate

Examples from the Web for matriculate

Historical Examples of matriculate

Subsequently, I learnt that this was the third year he had vainly attempted to matriculate.
Youth
Leo Tolstoy
He has to matriculate this year, it's frightfully difficult.
A Young Girl's Diary
An Anonymous Young Girl
You have made up your mind immediately you matriculate at her Universities.
The London Pulpit
J. Ewing Ritchie
I had presently to arrange a holiday and go to London to matriculate, and so it was I came upon my aunt and uncle again.
Tono Bungay
H. G. Wells
He leaves home provided with his ordinary apparel, which he is compelled to abandon, on becoming a matriculate.
The American Quarterly Review
Various

British Dictionary definitions for matriculate

matriculate

verb (məˈtrɪkjʊˌleɪt)

to enrol or be enrolled in an institution, esp a college or university

(intr) to attain the academic standard required for a course at such an institution

noun (məˈtrɪkjʊlɪt)

Also called: matriculant a person who has matriculated

Derived Formsmatriculator, noun

Word Origin for matriculate

C16: from Medieval Latin mātrīculāre to register, from mātrīcula, diminutive of matrix list, matrix

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

Word Origin and History for matriculate

1570s, "to admit a student to a college by enrolling his name on the register," from Late Latin matriculatus, past participle of matriculare "to register," from Latin matricula "public register," diminutive of matrix (genitive matricis) "list, roll," also "sources, womb" (see matrix).

The connection of senses in the Latin word seems to be via confusion of Greek metra "womb" (from meter "mother;" see mother (n.1)) and an identical but different Greek word metra meaning "register, lot" (see meter (n.2)). Evidently Latin matrix was used to translate both, though it originally shared meaning with only one. Related: Matriculated; matriculating.