graduate
Pluralgraduates
Verbgraduates, graduating, graduated
Pluralgraduates
Formsgraduates, graduating, graduated
- 1
- 2To finish all the requirements for a degree at a school or college.
He hopes to graduate this year and start medical school.
They graduated from high school in June.
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- 3In the United States, someone who has finished high school.
The new graduate already found a job at a local store.
High school graduates tossed their caps into the air.
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- 4Having to do with study for an academic degree.
He signed up for a graduate course in history.
She wants to apply to a graduate program next year.
Similarpostgraduate
Oppositeundergraduate
- 5
- 6To officially give a student a degree at the end of study.
The college graduated over a thousand students this year.
The university will graduate its largest class ever.
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- 7
- 8
- 9Arranged in slow, even steps or by small degrees.
Like a sky at sunset that slowly shifts from bright to dark.
The painter used a graduate blend of blue, going from dark to light.
The chart shows a graduate change in temperature across the day.
Similargraded, stepped, progressive
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- 10
- 11A cup or container marked with lines, used to measure amounts of liquid.
Like a measuring cup in the kitchen, but marked with finer lines.
The nurse poured the medicine into a graduate to measure the exact dose.
She filled the graduate up to the ten-milliliter line.
- 12To change or set something step by step, or to mark it with degrees.
Like turning a dial slowly to set the heat just right.
Workers graduate the slope of the ramp so wheelchairs can climb it easily.
The teacher graduated the lessons so each one was a little harder than the last.
Similarcalibrate, adjust, temper, modulate
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- 13A person who has finished a course of study at a school or college.
Each graduate of the night course received a certificate.
As a new graduate of the trade school, she found work quickly.
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- 14
- 15
- 16To become gradually narrower toward the end, like some birds' tails.
Like a carrot that gets thinner toward its tip.
The bird's tail feathers graduate to a fine point.
The long plumes graduated neatly toward the tip.
Similartaper
- 17To make a liquid thicker by slowly boiling some of it away.
Like boiling juice down until it becomes thick syrup.
Workers graduate the syrup until it reaches the right thickness.
The chemist graduated the solution by gently heating it for hours.
Similarconcentrate, reduce, thicken
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Practice
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Origins
From Latin graduatus, meaning "graduated," which comes from gradus, meaning "step." It came into English through Middle English.
From Middle English graduaten, based on the adjective graduate plus a verb-forming ending, from Latin graduatus.