graduate
[noun, adjective graj-oo-it, -eyt; verb graj-oo-eyt]
- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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
Usage note
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.
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
graduate
- 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
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- 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)
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for non-graduate
graduate
v.
early 15c., "to confer a university degree upon," from Medieval Latin graduatus (see graduate (n.)). Intransitive sense from 1807. Related: Graduated; graduating.
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graduate
n.
early 15c., "one who holds a degree" (with man; as a stand-alone noun from mid-15c.), from Medieval Latin graduatus, past participle of graduari "to take a degree," from Latin gradus "step, grade" (see grade). As an adjective, from late 15c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper