undergraduate

American  

[uhn-der-graj-oo-it, -eyt] / ˌʌn dərˈgrædʒ u ɪt, -ˌeɪt /

noun

1. a student in a university or college who has not received a first, especially a bachelor's, degree.

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adjective

1. having the standing of an undergraduate.

2. of, for, pertaining to, or characteristic of undergraduates.

undergraduate British  

/ ˌʌndəˈɡrædjʊɪt /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: undergrad.  a person studying in a university for a first degree

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Other Word Forms

• nonundergraduate noun
• undergraduateship noun

Etymology

Origin of undergraduate

First recorded in 1620–30; under- + graduate

Compare meaning

How does undergraduate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• undergraduate vs. postgraduate

Example Sentences

The pair hired an undergraduate to comb through phone book listings for fast-food restaurants.

From The Wall Street Journal

For Scots, whose undergraduate tuition is free thanks to government funding, the influx of Americans brings its own education.

From The Wall Street Journal

A freshman at Harvard, I awoke on March 10, 2020, to an email telling undergraduates to vacate campus.

From The Wall Street Journal

Since NOvA began in 2014, Messier and his colleagues have also mentored many IU graduate and undergraduate students working on the experiment.

From Science Daily

Pappas began at Colgate as an intern while an undergraduate at Rutgers University and left for four years to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton University.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• freshman
• junior
• senior
• sophomore
• student