graduate

The word “graduate” means a person who has completed a degree or course of study at a school, college, or university. In plain terms, someone who has finished a course of study, or the act of finishing one — also used for moving up to something harder or more advanced.

“Graduate” is pronounced GRAD-zhoo-uht (/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuɪt/ in IPA).

Here is “graduate” used in a sentence: “She's a graduate of Oxford University.”

The opposite of “graduate” — its antonyms — are student and drop-out.

Depending on how it is used, “graduate” can be a noun, a verb and an adjective.

The word “graduate” comes from Medieval Latin. From Medieval Latin graduatus ("having taken a degree"), from gradus ("step, degree").

“Graduate” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

“Graduate” has 4 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a person who has completed a degree or course of study at a school, college, or university.

An undergraduate is a student still working toward a first degree and has not finished yet. A graduate has completed that degree and holds the qualification. In everyday use, 'graduate' can also mean someone doing advanced study after a first degree, especially in American English, where 'graduate school' follows the undergraduate years.

A graduate is someone who has completed a degree or course. An alumnus, or alumna, is a former student of a particular institution; you are an alumnus of the school you attended, whether or not you finished. So every graduate is usually an alumnus, but not every alumnus is a graduate.

It is both, with a slight shift in stress. As a noun, a graduate is the person who has earned the qualification. As a verb, to graduate means to complete your studies and receive that qualification. There is also an unrelated verb sense: to graduate a scale means to mark it in measured steps.