matriculate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
matriculates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
matriculated,
past participle, past
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matriculating
present participle
-
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)
-
matriculates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
matriculated,
past participle, past
-
matriculating
present participle
noun
verb
-
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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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matriculatesimple
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matriculatessimple
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have matriculatedperfect
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has matriculatedperfect
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am matriculatingprogressive
-
are matriculatingprogressive
-
is matriculatingprogressive
-
have been matriculatingperfect progressive
-
has been matriculatingperfect progressive
Past
-
matriculatedsimple
-
had matriculatedperfect
-
was matriculatingprogressive
-
were matriculatingprogressive
-
had been matriculatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
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 -ate 1
Explanation
When you matriculate at your local university, that means that you’ve enrolled there as a student. If you hope to matriculate at a certain school, it means you want to be a student there. The verb matriculate is often confused the verb graduate — which means a student has completed a course of study. Instead, use matriculate to describe the act of enrolling as a student at a university and save graduate for the day you hurl your tasseled cap at the sky. There is also a noun form of matriculate: a matriculate is someone who has enrolled as a student.
Vocabulary lists containing matriculate
The Mother of All Lists: Mater, Matr
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Born a Crime
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"High School Football"
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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.
See Examples For:
Seemingly, all the children of the Valley are being shuttled by their parents toward Stanford, where they will matriculate by hook or by crook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
More than half of high-school grads matriculate to college, even though only 35% of 12th graders score proficient in reading and 22% in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
While it will take a little time for the students to matriculate through college and into the workforce, this plan will be a significant contributor to solving the controller shortage problem.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2025
I need it to matriculate into the master's programme I was accepted into at Columbia.
From BBC ● May 4, 2024
This might or might not be true, but I tend to think it is, as Cloke almost certainly did not distinguish himself wherever it was that he happened to matriculate.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Before she matriculates to his first year of university at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she is obligated to live out her mother’s final wish for her.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2022
“All American’s” Geffri Maya matriculates at a historically Black university in Atlanta in the new spinoff “All American: Homecoming.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2022
But the choices made as to who matriculates to serve as House and Senate leaders are made at the subatomic political level.
From Fox News ● Sep. 8, 2020
An NBA rule forbidding teams to sign a college player until three years after he matriculates would lessen universities’ importance as incubators of NBA talent.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 24, 2017
Many of these institutions report the largest number of matriculates in their history.
From Shadow and Light An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century by Booker T. Washington
By far the biggest factor in admission, however, is whether an applicant has matriculated from another magnet school and how long an applicant has been on the waiting list for a magnet school.
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
The Western College of Auctioneering has matriculated over 5,000 students, who auction everything from farm equipment to fine art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
Unlike other Bachelor Nation alumni, Thurston has not matriculated through the franchise much since her season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
Overall, the report found, about 160 Black men matriculated at Harvard’s undergraduate college from 1890 to 1940, an average of little more than three per year and 30 per decade.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2022
I suppose having matriculated to my nineteenth year has provided me with a depth of insight which I am only beginning to excavate.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
The total number of black and Hispanic students matriculating at law schools has risen more than 5% over the past two years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Charles was now in charge of the entire group of prisoners who were registering and matriculating prisoners when they arrived in the camp.
From Slate ● Nov. 29, 2022
Gore was the top pitching prospect in baseball in 2019, while Abrams was the No. 9 prospect on MLB.com earlier this year before matriculating to the big leagues.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2022
Note: Hyde will return as Orioles manager in 2022, a season in which many of the organization's top prospects should begin matriculating to the majors, according to a person with direct knowledge of the agreement.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 23, 2021
It is also possible that Father Zimmermann caused you to stop matriculating for the reason perhaps that your convent lacks funds to pay the tuition.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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.
