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View synonyms for graduate

graduate

[ noun adjective graj-oo-it, -eyt; verb graj-oo-eyt ]

noun

  1. a person who has received a degree or diploma on completing a course of study, as in a university, college, or school.
  2. a student who holds the bachelor's or the first professional degree and is studying for an advanced degree.
  3. a graduated cylinder, used for measuring.


adjective

  1. of, relating to, or involved in academic study beyond the first or bachelor's degree:

    graduate courses in business; a graduate student.

  2. having an academic degree or diploma:

    a graduate engineer.

verb (used without object)

, grad·u·at·ed, grad·u·at·ing.
  1. to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study (often followed by from ):

    She graduated from college in 1985.

  2. to pass by degrees; change gradually.

verb (used with object)

, grad·u·at·ed, grad·u·at·ing.
  1. to confer a degree upon, or to grant a diploma to, at the close of a course of study, as in a university, college, or school:

    Cornell graduated eighty students with honors.

  2. Informal. to receive a degree or diploma from:

    She graduated college in 1950.

  3. to arrange in grades or gradations; establish gradation in.
  4. to divide into or mark with degrees or other divisions, as the scale of a thermometer.

graduate

noun

    1. a person who has been awarded a first degree from a university or college
    2. ( as modifier )

      a graduate profession

  1. a student who has completed a course of studies at a high school and received a diploma
  2. a container, such as a flask, marked to indicate its capacity


verb

  1. to receive or cause to receive a degree or diploma
  2. tr to confer a degree, diploma, etc upon
  3. tr to mark (a thermometer, flask, etc) with units of measurement; calibrate
  4. tr to arrange or sort into groups according to type, quality, etc
  5. introften foll byto to change by degrees (from something to something else)

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Usage Note

In the sense “to receive a degree or diploma” graduate followed by from is the most common construction today: Her daughter graduated from Yale in 1981. The passive form was graduated from, formerly insisted upon as the only correct pattern, has decreased in use and occurs infrequently today: My husband was graduated from West Point last year. Even though it is condemned by some as nonstandard, the use of graduate as a transitive verb meaning “to receive a degree or diploma from” is increasing in frequency in both speech and writing: The twins graduated high school in 1974.

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Derived Forms

  • ˈgraduˌator, noun

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Other Words From

  • gradu·ator noun
  • non·gradu·ate noun
  • super·gradu·ate noun
  • un·gradu·ating adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of graduate1

1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin graduātus (past participle of graduāre ), equivalent to grad ( us ) grade, step + -u- thematic vowel + -ātus -ate 1

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Word History and Origins

Origin of graduate1

C15: from Medieval Latin graduārī to take a degree, from Latin gradus a step

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Example Sentences

Jiménez said she moved to Tijuana around 12 years ago after she graduated from high school.

Finally, Ken Wilson — a former graduate student of Gell-Mann with feet in the worlds of both particle physics and condensed matter — united the ideas of Gell-Mann and Low with those of Kadanoff.

Of the 180 graduates of the program, 172 are still actively pursuing their businesses as of last year.

From Ozy

They’ve now graduated to a different school that predates the Mussolini years.

From Fortune

About six years ago, food microbiologist David Mills of the University of California, Davis and graduate student Nicholas Bokulich, now a food microbiologist at ETH Zurich, discovered that groups of microbes may help shape the flavor of wine.

HONG KONG—Last year, I met a Chinese graduate student on a tour of the northeastern United States before his first day at Harvard.

The whys the wherefores, I think a lot of that is somehow a link from decoding texts, as they say in graduate school.

Many times, victims drop out of school, while their alleged attackers graduate.

Girma is a 26-year-old Harvard Law School graduate—and she is blind and deaf.

On-time graduation (10%): Percentage of students who graduate within four years (NCES).

She was a graduate, and probably knew nothing of what he thought essential for a teacher to know.

The faithful Wolff too, as a graduate of a German university, had been a fighter of duels in his youth.

Mr. Garnett is a graduate of Oneida Institute, a speaker of great pathetic eloquence, and has written several valuable pamphlets.

Then graduate the shades back again to white, narrowing the first row of white with the larger mesh.

We have also established post-graduate courses, in the hope of inducing our young men to complete their studies at home.

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