Graduate - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms

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SKIP TO CONTENT graduate 1. /ˈɡræʤuet/ receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies 2. /ˈɡræʤuɪt/ a person who has received a degree from a school IPA guide

Other forms: graduated; graduates; graduating

To graduate means to successfully complete your schooling, to become "a graduate." When you graduate from high school, you become a high school graduate and congratulations are in order.

A graduate is someone who has received a degree from a school. As a verb graduate refers to the act of receiving this degree “I plan to graduate from college in the spring,” or the act of giving a degree “I want to graduate all of my students.” In a scientific sense, graduate can mean to calibrate for fine adjustments. To make a thermometer, you have to graduate it by degrees so it displays a range of temperatures.

Definitions of graduate (/ˈɡræʤuet/)

verb receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies “She graduated in 1990” see moresee less type of: have, receive get something; come into possession of
verb confer an academic degree upon “This school graduates 2,000 students each year” see moresee less type of: bestow, confer present
verb make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for optimal measuring “graduate a cylinder” synonyms: calibrate, fine-tune see moresee less type of: adjust, correct, set alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard

Definitions of graduate (/ˈɡræʤuɪt/)

noun a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university) synonyms: alum, alumna, alumnus, grad see moresee less types: Ivy Leaguer a student or graduate at an Ivy League school old boy a former male pupil of a school type of: bookman, scholar, scholarly person, student a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines
adjective of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree “graduate courses” synonyms: postgraduate high greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount
noun a measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are marked with or divided into amounts see moresee less types: graduated cylinder a cylindrical graduate type of: measuring device, measuring instrument, measuring system instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something

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