noun
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a black tasselled academic cap with a flat square top covered with cloth
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Also called: hawk. a small square board with a handle on the underside for carrying mortar
Etymology
Origin of mortarboard
Vocabulary lists containing mortarboard
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.
In a clip on his personal TikTok, Burnham, thanks to clever editing, appears to toss up a mortarboard hat and catch a builder's helmet, as he promotes technical education.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Trading your mortarboard for a company badge is exciting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
They moved their gold tassels from right to left on the mortarboard.
From Washington Post ● May 18, 2022
The material is taped to a cable beneath the helicopter’s solar panel, which is perched on top like a graduate’s mortarboard.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2021
He motioned for me to wear my mortarboard, and took a picture of me with the school’s clock tower in the background.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
