graduate
graduate Lexical Profile
graduate Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person who has successfully completed a course of study or training and been awarded an academic degree or diploma, especially at a university, college, or high school.
"The company actively recruits recent engineering graduates from top universities."
A glass cylinder, flask, or beaker marked with horizontal lines for measuring fluid volume.
"The chemist poured fifty milliliters of the solution into a clean glass graduate."
• verb
To successfully complete an academic degree, course of training, or high school education and receive a diploma.
"He plans to graduate from university with honors next spring."
To advance or progress by stages to a higher, more complex, or more prestigious level of activity or responsibility.
"After two years of editing short articles, she graduated to managing the entire magazine."
To divide, mark, or arrange into regular intervals, degrees, or proportional steps for measurement or taxation.
"The thermometer is graduated in both Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees."
• adjective
Relating to, designed for, or engaged in advanced academic study beyond a bachelor's degree.
"She enrolled in a prestigious graduate program in molecular biology."
Word Nuance & Usage
As a noun and adjective, the final syllable is pronounced with a reduced vowel (/ˈɡrædʒuət/), whereas as a verb it is pronounced with a full long vowel (/ˈɡrædʒueɪt/). In modern standard usage, the construction 'graduated from college' is preferred in formal writing over 'graduated college', though the transitive form is common in informal American speech.
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 15th century from Medieval Latin graduatus, the past participle of graduari ('to take an academic degree'), from Latin gradus ('step, stage, or degree').