Ph.D.
Americanabbreviation
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the highest degree, a doctorate, awarded by a graduate school in a field of academic study, usually to a person who has completed at least three years of graduate study and a dissertation approved by a committee of professors.
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a person who has been awarded this degree.
Etymology
Origin of Ph.D.
First recorded in 1870–75; from Latin Philosophiae Doctor
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.
Start by comparing your current support system to the support you’d get in a senior living community, said Sara Zeff Geber, Ph.D., author of “Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
Pattra Chun-on, M.D., an internist pursuing her Ph.D. in Alder's lab, set out to uncover that missing link.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 1, 2026
Danielle’s dad, a doctor, loves that Drew’s finishing up his Ph.D., and her sister is impressed that the pair can hold a conversation for hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Riemann’s Ph.D. adviser, the legendary Carl Friedrich Gauss, tasked him with revamping geometry to better handle curved spaces and more dimensions than three.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2026
The first page was typewritten, a title page, and it said: An Analysis of Some Philosophical Implications of the Rusakov Field, by Gerard Bonneville, Ph.D.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
