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. )

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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

See Examples For:

postdoctoral

Sipkova is a postdoctoral scholar, while Klepac is a research scientist.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026

He first pursued corporate science jobs and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships at national laboratories.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

A research team led by Tackenberg and postdoctoral researcher Rebecca Weber tested that idea in two studies carried out in collaboration with a group headed by Ruslan Rust from the University of Southern California.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

Northwestern postdoctoral researcher Arthur Montanari and graduate student Pietro Zanin, both members of the Motter group, are the study's co-first authors.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 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

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