graduate: Meaning and Definition of

grad•u•ate

Pronunciation: (n., adj.graj'-it, -āt"v.graj'-āt"), [key]
— n., adj., v., -at•ed, -at•ing.
—n.
  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 cylindrical or tapering graduated container, used for measuring.
—adj.
  1. of, pertaining 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.
—v.i.
  1. to receive a degree or diploma on completing a course of study (often fol. by from): She graduated from college in 1985.
  2. to pass by degrees; change gradually.
—v.t.
  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. 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.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
See also: