graduates
graduates — verb
1. to finish all the required studies at a school, college, or university and recei
to finish all the required studies at a school, college, or university and receive a diploma or degree.
Tanvi graduates from the National University of Singapore next June with a chemistry degree.
graduate from + institution; future tense for upcoming event
Only forty percent of the village children graduate from high school before they turn eighteen.
statistical context: graduate from + school
Kasia worked two part-time jobs and still graduated with first-class honours last month.
More than five hundred students graduated together at the open-air ceremony yesterday afternoon.
Joon plans to graduate in mechanical engineering and then move back to Busan.
- complete one's studies
neutral, slightly formal; describes the academic side without the ceremony
- earn a degree
American, focuses on the qualification rather than the event
文法句型
graduate from + institution
graduate in + subject
graduate with + degree class
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 2 (sense 2 is the American usage where the institution is the object: 'she graduated Harvard'). Here the institution always follows 'from', and a degree subject follows 'in'.
常見錯誤
2. to leave a school after completing the programme there, naming the school direct
to leave a school after completing the programme there, naming the school directly as the object of the verb (mainly American spoken usage).
Eshe graduated Yale in 2019 and went straight into a Brooklyn law firm.
transitive: graduate + institution (American)
My cousin Camila graduated Boston Latin School and got accepted to MIT the same week.
American spoken pattern: graduate + school name
Felix graduates Stuyvesant this spring and has already lined up a summer internship in Manhattan.
Most Americans say they graduated their college, dropping the word 'from' in casual talk.
- finish [school]
neutral on both sides of the Atlantic; works in any register
文法句型
graduate + institution
用法筆記
Only common in American English, and even there many style guides recommend 'from'. In formal writing on either side of the Atlantic, prefer sense 1 with 'from'.
常見錯誤
3. to step up from an easier or earlier level of skill, work, or activity to a hard
to step up from an easier or earlier level of skill, work, or activity to a harder or more important one — a figurative use of finishing school.
Nellie graduated from baking simple cookies to making three-tier wedding cakes within two years.
graduate from X to Y; progression of skill
Indra started writing fan fiction online and graduated to publishing her first novel last spring.
graduate to + more serious activity
The young swimmers graduate from the shallow pool to the Olympic-sized one once they pass a test.
After six months on simple bookkeeping, Inês graduated to handling the full company accounts.
- progress to
neutral; works in any context where you advance to a new stage
- move up to
slightly informal; common in workplace and sports contexts
- regress to
formal; slide back to an earlier, less advanced stage
文法句型
graduate from X to Y
graduate to + new stage
用法筆記
Frequently followed by 'from X to Y' to mark both stages. The two stages should be on the same activity track (cooking → fancier cooking, not cooking → tennis).
常見錯誤
4. (of a school or college) to formally give somebody a diploma or degree at the en
(of a school or college) to formally give somebody a diploma or degree at the end of their studies — the institution is the subject and the student is the object.
The medical school graduates around two hundred new doctors each summer.
institution as subject, students as object
Élise was graduated from the conservatory with the highest distinction in her piano year.
passive: be graduated from + institution
Stanford graduated its first class of computer-science PhDs in 1965.
Small liberal-arts colleges graduate fewer than one hundred students every spring.
- confer a degree on
very formal; common in ceremony language
文法句型
[institution] graduates + person
be graduated from + institution
用法筆記
Subject must be an educational institution, not a person. The passive 'was graduated from' sounds old-fashioned today; modern writers usually pick the intransitive sense 1 instead.
常見錯誤
graduates — noun
1. somebody who has completed their studies at a university and earned the official
somebody who has completed their studies at a university and earned the official qualification.
Christopher is a Cambridge graduate who now teaches history at a school in Cardiff.
graduate of + university; identity pattern
Most of the city's new tech start-ups hire graduates straight from the local universities.
plural: graduates straight from
As an engineering graduate, Chiara found work in Frankfurt within three months of leaving school.
The unemployment rate for new graduates has fallen sharply since last winter.
Léa, a 2023 graduate of the Sorbonne, has just published her first academic paper in Paris.
- alumnus / alumna
formal; specifically a former student of a named institution
- degree holder
neutral; emphasises the qualification rather than the person
- non-graduate
neutral; someone without a degree
- school-leaver
British; someone who has left school without further study
文法句型
a graduate of [institution]
a graduate in [subject]
用法筆記
In British English, 'graduate' usually means a university degree holder. In American English the same word can also cover anyone who has finished high school (see sense 2).
常見錯誤
2. (mainly American) somebody who has finished any level of school — including high
(mainly American) somebody who has finished any level of school — including high school — and received a diploma at the end.
Kian is a recent graduate of Lincoln High and starts his first job at a Seattle bookshop next week.
high-school context, American usage
About ninety percent of high-school graduates in this district apply to at least one college.
compound noun: high-school graduates
Many community-college graduates go on to four-year universities to finish their bachelor's degrees.
The mayor congratulated the new graduates of Roosevelt Middle School at the spring ceremony.
- diploma holder
neutral; emphasises the certificate
- school-leaver
British; the person who has finished school at any level
- dropout
informal; someone who left school before finishing
文法句型
a graduate of [school]
a high-school graduate
用法筆記
British readers may find this confusing — in the UK a 'graduate' means specifically someone with a university degree. Reach for 'school-leaver' or 'school-finisher' if your reader is British.
常見錯誤
graduates — adjective
1. (mainly American) describing study, courses, or qualifications that come after a
(mainly American) describing study, courses, or qualifications that come after a first bachelor's degree — for example a master's or doctoral programme.
Eitan is applying to graduate programmes in clinical psychology at three different California universities.
attributive: graduate + noun (programmes)
Most graduate students at this university teach undergraduate classes alongside their own research.
graduate students; common collocation
The library has a separate reading room reserved for graduate work and faculty research only.
After two years of graduate study, Tanvi finally chose to focus on environmental policy.
- postgraduate
British equivalent; means the same thing in British academic writing
- advanced
broader; covers any study beyond a basic level, not only post-bachelor's
- undergraduate
describes the first-degree level of study
文法句型
graduate [noun]
用法筆記
Used only before a noun (you cannot say 'the course is graduate'). British English normally prefers 'postgraduate' for the same idea: 'postgraduate programme', 'postgraduate student'.
常見錯誤
2. describing a person who has earned a university qualification — used in job titl
describing a person who has earned a university qualification — used in job titles and professional descriptions.
The clinic just hired three graduate nurses to support the senior consultant on the night shift.
graduate + profession noun (nurses)
Camila joined the bank's graduate trainee scheme straight after finishing her economics degree.
graduate trainee scheme; common HR collocation
The hospital advertised five graduate doctor positions for the upcoming academic year.
Most graduate engineers at this firm earn around forty-five thousand euros in their first year.
- qualified
broader; works in any predicative or attributive slot
- degree-holding
neutral; explicit about the qualification
- unqualified
without the relevant degree or training
文法句型
graduate [profession noun]
用法筆記
Only used attributively in fixed job-related compounds ('graduate nurse', 'graduate engineer', 'graduate trainee'). Outside these compounds, prefer 'qualified' or 'with a degree'.