undergraduate
Americannoun
adjective
-
having the standing of an undergraduate.
-
of, for, pertaining to, or characteristic of undergraduates.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of undergraduate
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How does undergraduate compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
An undergraduate is a college or university student who's not a graduate student. After high school, you can become an undergraduate. Undergraduates are students of universities and colleges: they've graduated from high school and have been accepted to college, but they haven't graduated yet. If the under in undergraduate seems confusing, that's because there are also graduate students, students who have a college degree but are no longer undergraduates and are pursuing an advanced degree, like a Master's or Ph.D. Lots of people say being an undergraduate was one of the best times of their lives: it's an exciting thing to be.
Vocabulary lists containing undergraduate
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.
Hoge conducted the work as an undergraduate researcher in Danforth's lab.
From Science Daily • May 28, 2026
These models show what a national strategy should look like: public investment, corporate sponsorship, university research capacity and continuous pathways from undergraduate study through doctoral work.
From MarketWatch • May 27, 2026
The faculty voted to approve a cap on the number of A’s per course, part of the undergraduate college’s yearslong effort to curb grade inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Grant money had gone toward lab upgrades, paid undergraduate research grants and grad-school fellowships that benefited all students.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
Around that same time, the Arkansas Board of Education surprised us all by saying that seven state junior colleges would now be open to our undergraduate students.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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.
