graduate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university)
    alum; alumna; grad; alumnus.
  2. noun a measuring instrument for measuring fluid volume; a glass container (cup or cylinder or flask) whose sides are marked with or divided into amounts
  3. verb receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies
    • She graduated in 1990
  4. verb confer an academic degree upon
    • This school graduates 2,000 students each year
  5. verb make fine adjustments or divide into marked intervals for optimal measuring
    fine-tune; calibrate.
    • calibrate an instrument
    • graduate a cylinder
  6. adjective satellite of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree
    postgraduate.
    • graduate courses

WordNet

Grad"u*ate transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. graduer. See Graduate, n., Grade.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Graduated present participle & verbal noun Graduating
Definitions
  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.
Grad"u*ate intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To pass by degrees; to change gradually; to shade off; as, sandstone which graduates into gneiss; carnelian sometimes graduates into quartz.
  2. (Zoöl.) 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
Etymology
LL. graduatus, p. p. of graduare to admit to a degree, fr. L. gradus grade. See Grade, n.
Definitions
  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, or flask; a measuring glass used by apothecaries and chemists. See under Graduated.
Grad"u*ate adjective
Etymology
See Graduate, n. & v.
Definitions
  1. Arrangei by successive steps or degrees; graduated.
    Beginning with the genus, passing through all the graduate and subordinate stages. Tatham.

Webster 1913