GRADUATE

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does graduate mean? 

• GRADUATE (noun)
  The noun GRADUATE has 2 senses:

1. a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university)

2. a measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are marked with or divided into amounts

  Familiarity information: GRADUATE used as a noun is rare.

• GRADUATE (adjective)
  The adjective GRADUATE has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree

  Familiarity information: GRADUATE used as an adjective is very rare.

• GRADUATE (verb)
  The verb GRADUATE has 3 senses:

1. receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies

2. confer an academic degree upon

3. make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for optimal measuring

  Familiarity information: GRADUATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRADUATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

alum; alumna; alumnus; grad; graduate

Hypernyms ("graduate" is a kind 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)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "graduate"):

Ivy Leaguer (a student or graduate at an Ivy League school)

old boy (a former male pupil of a school)

Derivation:

graduate (confer an academic degree upon)

graduate (receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are marked with or divided into amounts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("graduate" is a kind of...):

measuring device; measuring instrument; measuring system (instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "graduate"):

graduated cylinder (a cylindrical graduate)

Derivation:

graduate (make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for optimal measuring)

• GRADUATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree

Synonyms:

graduate; postgraduate

Context example:

graduate courses

Similar:

high (greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount)

• GRADUATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they graduate ... he / she / it graduates
Past simple: graduated   
Past participle: graduated   
-ing form: graduating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

She graduated in 1990

Hypernyms (to "graduate" is one way to...):

have; receive (get something; come into possession of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

graduate (a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university))

graduation (the successful completion of a program of study)

graduation (an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Confer an academic degree upon

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

This school graduates 2,000 students each year

Hypernyms (to "graduate" is one way to...):

bestow; confer (present)

Cause:

graduate (receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

graduate (a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university))

graduation (the successful completion of a program of study)

graduation (an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for optimal measuring

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

calibrate; fine-tune; graduate

Context example:

graduate a cylinder

Hypernyms (to "graduate" is one way to...):

adjust; correct; set (alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

graduate (a measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are marked with or divided into amounts)

graduation (a line (as on a vessel or ruler) that marks a measurement)

 Context examples 

Your ninth house is essentially an intellectual one, so your quest for higher education falls here, namely when you go to college or graduate school.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"This is a complex problem," said Kelly Kulhanek, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Entomology who helped with the survey.

(Study Finds Mixed News About Bee Populations, VOA)

That's going to be a very interesting question in the future, said first author Melinda Webster, an oceanography graduate student at the University of Washington.

(Snow cover on Arctic Sea ice has thinned 30 to 50 percent, NASA)

Then he avoided the tender subject altogether, wrote philosophical notes to Jo, turned studious, and gave out that he was going to 'dig', intending to graduate in a blaze of glory.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree is a postgraduate first-professional degree awarded for graduates who have completed a program of studies in veterinary medicine.

(Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, NCI Thesaurus)

The MSW requires two years of post graduate study, in combination with one year's internship, also called field experience.

(Master of Social Work, NCI Thesaurus)

A professional healthcare provider who has graduated from a nursing program.

(Nurse, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A measuring device, traditionally including a graduated tube, designed for the accurate transfer of liquid volumes.

(Pipette Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

The Doctor's Degree is the highest award a student can earn for graduate study.

(Doctorate Degree, NCI Thesaurus)

The learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system.

(Law, NCI Thesaurus)