postdoctoral

American  

[pohst-dok-ter-uhl] / poʊstˈdɒk tər əl /

adjective

1. of or relating to study or professional work undertaken after the receipt of a doctorate.

   postdoctoral courses.

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postdoctoral British  

/ pəʊstˈdɒktərəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating studies, research, or professional work above the level of a doctorate

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Etymology

Origin of postdoctoral

1935–40; post- + doctoral ( def. )

Explanation

Research or other work done after getting a PhD is postdoctoral. Your cousin must be pretty happy about the postdoctoral fellowship she got at the University of Hawaii. Surf's up! When you stay in school long enough to earn a doctorate degree (usually called a PhD or Doctor of Philosophy), you can describe the work, writing, and research you do as doctoral. It follows that related work done after that — but generally before getting a full-time academic job — is postdoctoral, since post- means "after." A postdoctoral student, for example, might work for a few years and teach some classes before pursuing a university teaching position.

Example Sentences

When I was a postdoctoral student at the University of Chicago, Gary Becker was one of my mentors.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026

While the study presented interesting clues, it is too early to move toward genetic testing for GLP-1 use, said Dr. Marie Spreckley, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge working on obesity treatments.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

Five early-career researchers will take part in the project as part of doctoral and postdoctoral programs.

From Science Daily • Apr. 5, 2026

The co-first authors are Kui Zhai, a research associate in the Singh Lab at McMaster, and Nick Mikolajewicz, who was a postdoctoral fellow in the Moffat Lab at SickKids during the study.

From Science Daily • Apr. 5, 2026

He was the first in his family to go to school, and when he learned about Henrietta as a postdoctoral fellow in Gey’s lab, he felt immediately connected to her.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot