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.
Zietlow, now at the History Museum at the Castle in Wisconsin, began investigating the fossils while working as a Ph.D. student in comparative biology at the American Museum of Natural History's Richard Gilder Graduate School.
From Science Daily • May 23, 2026
We must support new and expanded Ph.D. programs, as well as auxiliary assistance with professional development and research.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
"Our work shows that MYC isn't just helping cancer cells grow -- it's also helping them survive some of the very treatments designed to kill them," said senior author Rosalie Sears, Ph.D.,
From Science Daily • May 17, 2026
Elsewhere on campus, Sarah Jachim, Ph.D., -- who was also completing graduate research at the time -- was studying aging and senescent cells in the laboratory of Nathan LeBrasseur, Ph.D.
From Science Daily • May 15, 2026
Here he again became excited about science and decided that perhaps he should finally work for a Ph.D.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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.
