Definition of GRADUATE

graduate

Meanings

Plural: graduates

Noun

  • a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university)
  • a measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are marked with or divided into amounts
  • A person who is recognized by a university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution.
  • A person who is recognized by a high school as having completed the requirements of a course of study at the school.
  • A person who is recognized as having completed any level of education.
  • A graduated (marked) cup or other container, thus fit for measuring.

Verb

  • receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies
    • "She graduated in 1990"
  • confer an academic degree upon
    • "This school graduates 2,000 students each year"
  • make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for optimal measuring
    • "graduate a cylinder"
  • To be recognized by a school or university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution.
  • To be certified as having earned a degree from; to graduate from (an institution).
  • To certify (a student) as having earned a degree
  • To mark (something) with degrees; to divide into regular steps or intervals, as the scale of a thermometer, a scheme of punishment or rewards, etc.
  • To change gradually.
  • To prepare gradually; to arrange, temper, or modify by degrees or to a certain degree; to determine the degrees of.
  • To bring to a certain degree of consistency, by evaporation, as a fluid.
  • To taper, as the tail of certain birds.
  • To approve (a feature) for general release.
  • Of an idol: to exit a group; or of a virtual YouTuber, to leave a management agency; usually accompanied with "graduation ceremony" send-offs, increased focus on the leaving member, and the like.

Adjective Satellite

  • of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree
    • "graduate courses"

Adj

  • graduated, arranged by degrees
  • holding an academic degree
  • relating to an academic degree

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English graduat(e) (“(noun) a graduate of a university; (adjective) graduate, having graduated”, also used as the past participle of graduaten (“to graduate”)), borrowed from Medieval Latin graduātus (“graduated, graduate”), perfect passive participle of graduō (“to graduate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from gradus (“step”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). The noun is originally derived within Latin from the adjective via substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Sense 10 of the verb, relating to Japanese entertainment, is a semantic loan from Japanese 卒業 (sotsugyō).

Synonyms

alum, alumna, alumnus, calibrate, fine-tune, grad, postgraduate

Antonyms

drop-out, student

Scrabble Score: 10

graduate is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
graduate is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
graduate is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

graduate is a valid Words With Friends word