Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Graduate

Grad′u-ate

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Graduated
p. pr. & vb. n.
Graduating
.]
[Cf. F.
graduer
. See
Graduate
,
Noun.
,
Grade
.]
1.
To mark with degrees; to divide into regular steps, grades, or intervals, as the scale of a thermometer, a scheme of punishment or rewards, etc.
2.
To admit or elevate to a certain grade or degree; esp., in a college or university, to admit, at the close of the course, to an honorable standing defined by a diploma;
as, he was graduated at Yale College
.
3.
To prepare gradually; to arrange, temper, or modify by degrees or to a certain degree; to determine the degrees of;
as, to graduate the heat of an oven
.
Dyers advance and graduate their colors with salts.
Browne.
4.
(Chem.)
To bring to a certain degree of consistency, by evaporation, as a fluid.
Graduating engine
,
a dividing engine. See
Dividing
engine, under
Dividing
.

Grad′u-ate

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To pass by degrees; to change gradually; to shade off;
as, sandstone which
graduates
into gneiss; carnelian sometimes
graduates
into quartz.
2.
(Zool.)
To taper, as the tail of certain birds.
3.
To take a degree in a college or university; to become a graduate; to receive a diploma.
He
graduated
at Oxford.
Latham.
He was brought to their bar and asked where he had
graduated
.
Macaulay.

Grad′u-ate

,
Noun.
[LL.
graduatus
, p. p. of graduare to admit to a degree, fr. L.
gradus
grade. See
Grade
,
Noun.
]
1.
One who has received an academical or professional degree; one who has completed the prescribed course of study in any school or institution of learning.
2.
A graduated cup, tube, flask, or cylinder; a glass measuring container used by apothecaries and chemists. See under
Graduated
.

Grad′u-ate

,
Adj.
[See
Graduate
,
Noun.
&
Verb.
]
Arranged by successive steps or degrees; graduated.
Beginning with the genus, passing through all the
graduate

and subordinate stages.
Tatham.

Webster 1828 Edition

Graduate

GRAD'UATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. gradus, a degree.]
1.
To honor with a degree or diploma, in a college or university; to confer a degree on; as, to graduate a master of arts.
2.
To mark with degrees, regular intervals, or division; as, to graduate a thermometer.
3. To form shades or nice differences.
4.
To raise to a higher place in the scale of metals.
5.
To advance by degrees; to improve.
Dyers advance and graduate their colors with salts.
6.
To temper; to prepare.
Diseases originating in the atmosphere act exclusively on bodies graduated to receive their impressions.
7.
To mark degrees or differences of any kind; as, to graduate punishment.
8.
In chimistry, to bring fluids to a certain degree of consistency.

GRAD'UATE

,
Verb.
I.
To receive a degree from a college or university.
1.
To pass by degrees; to change gradually. Sandstone which graduates into gneiss, Carnelian sometimes graduates into quartz.

GRAD'UATE

,
Noun.
One who has received a degree in a college or university, or from some professional incorporated society.

Definition 2024

graduate

graduate

English

Noun

graduate ‎(plural graduates)

  1. A person who is recognized by a university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution.
    If the government wants graduates to stay in the country they should offer more incentives.
  2. (US, Canada) A person who is recognized by a high school as having completed the requirements of a course of study at the school.
  3. A graduated (marked) cup or other container, thus fit for measuring.

Antonyms

Coordinate terms

Translations

Adjective

graduate ‎(comparative more graduate, superlative most graduate)

  1. graduated, arranged by degrees
  2. holding an academic degree
  3. relating to an academic degree

Verb

graduate ‎(third-person singular simple present graduates, present participle graduating, simple past and past participle graduated)

  1. (intransitive, ergative) To be recognized by a school or university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution.
    The man graduated in 1967.
    Trisha graduated from college.
  2. (transitive, proscribed) To be certified as having earned a degree from; to graduate from (an institution).
    Trisha graduated college.
  3. (transitive) To certify (a student) as having earned a degree
    Indiana University graduated the student.
    The college graduated him as soon as he was no longer eligible to play under NCAA rules.
  4. (transitive) To mark (something) with degrees; to divide into regular steps or intervals, as the scale of a thermometer, a scheme of punishment or rewards, etc.
  5. (intransitive) To change gradually.
    sandstone which graduates into gneiss; carnelian sometimes graduates into quartz
  6. To prepare gradually; to arrange, temper, or modify by degrees or to a certain degree; to determine the degrees of.
    to graduate the heat of an oven
    • Browne
      Dyers advance and graduate their colours with salts.
  7. (chemistry) To bring to a certain degree of consistency, by evaporation, as a fluid.
  8. To taper, as the tail of certain birds.

Usage notes

In the sense “to complete studies”, usage has shifted from the 19th century through the 21st century.[1] Originally (from the 16th century) used transitively as “the school graduated the student” or passively as “the student was graduated [from the school, by the school]”; compare certified. In the 19th century began to be used as an ergative verb in the intransitive form “the student graduated from school”, “the student graduated”; the ergative occurs in English for change of state (compare break, melt), and reverses the subject compared to the transitive form: the student is the subject, not the school. This was originally proscribed, but was generally accepted by mid-20th century, and is now the preferred usage. The form “was graduated from” is a fossil, seen primarily in wedding invitations and obituaries, though the active form “the school graduated the student” is still in use. A further shift started mid-20th century, using the verb transitively with student subject, as in “the student graduated college” (note no “from”; compare completed). This has been used in major periodicals from the 1990s, but remains proscribed into the 21st century, being considered at best informal, at worst uneducated.

Note that there are thus two transitive forms, with the subject and object switching between the school and the student: “I graduated Indiana University” (newer, proscribed) vs. “Indiana University graduated me” (older, somewhat old-fashioned).

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

References

  1. ↑ Garner's Modern American Usage, Bryan Garner, 2009, pp. 399–400

Italian

Verb

graduate

  1. second-person plural present indicative of graduare
  2. second-person plural imperative of graduare

Adjective

graduate

  1. Feminine plural of graduato

Anagrams

Latin

Adjective

graduāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of graduātus

Etymology

From Latin graduātus ‎(“graduated”), from gradus ‎(“step”).

Pronunciation

Similar Results