graduate

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: grad=u=ate

CIDE DICTIONARY

graduate, v. t. [Cf. F. graduer. See Graduate, n., Grade.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Dyers advance and graduate their colors with salts."  [1913 Webster]
•  To bring to a certain degree of consistency, by evaporation, as a fluid.  [1913 Webster]

Graduating engine, a dividing engine. See Dividing engine, under Dividing.

graduate, v. i. 

•  To pass by degrees; to change gradually; to shade off; as, sandstone which graduates into gneiss; carnelian sometimes graduates into quartz.  [1913 Webster]
•  To taper, as the tail of certain birds.  [1913 Webster]
•  To take a degree in a college or university; to become a graduate; to receive a diploma.  [1913 Webster]

  "He graduated at Oxford."  [1913 Webster]

  "He was brought to their bar and asked where he had graduated."  [1913 Webster]

graduate, n. [LL. graduatus, p. p. of graduare to admit to a degree, fr. L. gradus grade. See Grade, n.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  A graduated cup, tube, flask, or cylinder; a glass measuring container used by apothecaries and chemists. See under Graduated.  [1913 Webster]

graduate, a. [See Graduate, n. & v.].

 Arranged by successive steps or degrees; graduated.  [1913 Webster]
"Beginning with the genus, passing through all the graduate
and subordinate stages."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

graduate, n. & v.
--n.
1 a person who has been awarded an academic degree (also attrib.: graduate student).
2 US a person who has completed a school course.
--v.
1 a intr. take an academic degree. b tr. US admit to an academic degree or a certificate of completion of School Studies.
2 intr. a (foll. by from) be a graduate of a specified university. b (foll. by in) be a graduate in a specified subject.
3 tr. US send out as a graduate from a university etc.
4 intr. a (foll. by to) move up to (a higher grade of activity etc.). b (foll. by as, in) gain specified qualifications.
5 tr. mark out in degrees or parts.
6 tr. arrange in gradations; apportion (e.g. tax) according to a scale.
7 intr. (foll. by into, away) pass by degrees.

Idiom

graduated pension (in the UK) a system of pension contributions by employees in proportion to their wages or salary. graduate school a department of a university for advanced work by graduates.

Derivative

graduator n.

Etymology

med.L graduari take a degree f. L gradus step

THESAURUS

graduate

Admirable Crichton, academic, adept, adjust, advance, aggrandize, alumna, alumnae, alumni, alumnus, ameliorate, amend, appraise, appreciate, artisan, artist, assay, assess, attache, authority, autodidactic, bachelor, be blooded, be successful, bookish, bulk, calculate, calibrate, calibrated, caliper, catch on, check a parameter, click, college graduate, college man, college-bred, collegiate, come along, come off, come on, compute, connaisseur, connect, connoisseur, consultant, cordon bleu, crack shot, craftsman, cross-disciplinary, dead shot, decrease, degrees, develop, dial, differentiate, diplomat, diplomatist, divide, doctoral candidate, educated class, educated man, elder statesman, elevate, enlarge, ennoble, estimate, evaluate, exalt, experienced hand, expert, expert consultant, farewell, fathom, gain, gain ground, gauge, get ahead, get along, go, go ahead, go forward, go great guns, go off, go over, go over big, go to town, grad, gradate, gradational, grade, gradual, graduate student, graduate-professional, graduated, group, grow better, handy man, hierarchic, improve, increase, interdisciplinary, journeyman, kick upstairs, knight, learned, look up, make a hit, make headway, make progress, make strides, mark, marksman, match, measure, meet with success, meliorate, mend, mensurate, meritocracy, mete, meter, no slouch, pace, pass, pedagogical, perk up, pick up, plumb, politician, postgraduate, prefer, prevail, prize, pro, probe, professional, professor, proficient, progress, progressive, promote, proportion, prosper, qualify, quantify, quantize, raise, range, rank, rate, regular, savant, scalar, scale, scholarly, scholastic, schoolboyish, schoolgirlish, schoolish, shade off, shape up, shark, sharp, show improvement, size, size up, skyrocket, sophomoric, sort, sound, span, statesman, step, studentlike, studious, succeed, survey, take, take a reading, take off, technical adviser, technician, triangulate, undergraduate, up, upgrade, valuate, value, weigh, work well, work wonders

ROGET THESAURUS

graduate

Agreement

VB be accordant, agree, accord, harmonize, correspond, tally, respond, meet, suit, fit, befit, do, adapt itself to, fall in with, chime in with, square with, quadrate with, consort with, comport with, dovetail, assimilate, fit like a glove, fit to a tittle, fit to a T, match, become one, homologate, consent, render accordant, fit, suit, adapt, accommodate, graduate, adjust, dress, regulate, readjust, accord, harmonize, reconcile, fadge, dovetail, square.

Arrangement

VB reduce to order, bring into order, introduce order into, rally, arrange, dispose, place, form, put in order, set in order, place in order, set out, collocate, pack, marshal, range, size, rank, group, parcel out, allot, distribute, deal, cast the parts, assign the parts, dispose of, assign places to, assort, sort, sift, riddle, put to rights, set to rights, put into shape, put in trim, put in array, apportion, class, classify, divide, file, string together, thread, register, catalogue, tabulate, index, graduate, digest, grade, methodize, regulate, systematize, coordinate, organize, settle, fix, unravel, disentangle, ravel, card, disembroil, feaze.

Continuity

VB follow in a series, form a series, fall in, arrange in a series, collate, string together, file, thread, graduate, organize, sort, tabulate.

Measurement

VB measure, mete, determine, assay, evaluate, value, assess, rate, appraise, estimate, form an estimate, set a value on, appreciate, standardize, span, pace step, apply the compass, gauge, plumb, probe, sound, fathom, heave the log, heave the lead, survey, weigh, take an average, graduate.

Scholar

N scholar, connoisseur, savant, pundit, schoolman, professor, graduate, wrangler, academician, academist, master of arts, doctor, licentitate, gownsman, philosopher, master of math, scientist, clerk, sophist, sophister, linguist, glossolinguist, philologist, philologer, lexicographer, glossographer, grammarian, litterateur, literati, dilettanti, illuminati, cogniscenti, fellow, Hebraist, lexicologist, mullah, munshi, Sanskritish, sinologist, sinologue, Mezzofanti, admirable Crichton, Mecaenas, bookworm, helluo librorum, bibliophile, bibliomaniac, bluestocking, bas-bleu, bigwig, learned Theban, don, Artium Baccalaureus, Artium Magister, learned man, literary man, homo multarum literarum, man of learning, man of letters, man of education, man of genius, antiquarian, antiquary, archaeologist, sage, pedant, doctrinaire, pedagogue, Dr, Pangloss, pantologist, criminologist, schoolboy, learned, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, he was a scholar and a ripe and good one, the manifold linguist.

Learning

VB learn, acquire knowledge, gain knowledge, receive knowledge, take in knowledge, drink in knowledge, imbibe knowledge, pick up knowledge, gather knowledge, get knowledge, obtain knowledge, collect knowledge, glean knowledge, glean information, glean learning, acquaint oneself with, master, make oneself master of, make oneself acquainted with, grind, cram, get up, coach up, learn by heart, learn by rote, read, spell, peruse, con over, pore over, thumb over, wade through, dip into, run the eye over, run the eye through, turn over the leaves, study, be studious, burn the midnight oil, consume the midnight oil, mind one's book, cram, go to school, go to college, go to the university, matriculate, serve an apprenticeship, serve one's apprenticeship, serve one's time, learn one's trade, be informed, be taught, drop out, leave school, quit school, graduate, transfer, take a leave, dismiss, expel, kick out of school, flunk out, be dismissed.