Ph.D.
Americanabbreviation
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Ph.D.s
plural
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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.
After graduating in 2003, Roberts pursued a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University of Southampton and studied dark matter at CERN, the Swiss nuclear research center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
"You can imagine a biosynthetic pathway almost as an assembly line," said Miller, who earned his Ph.D. in the Hamberger Lab.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
With his last Ph.D. students graduating, this was a natural moment for Tsimerman to make a move of his own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
He had an Ivy League degree, earned his MD and Ph.D. at world-class institutions and ascended to the C-suite of a prestigious organization.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
In a sense, this pursuit of the Ph.D. was a bore to a mind that worked too fast to be satisfied with the tedium involved in thesis research.
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.
