graduate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   confer an academic degree upon

   This school graduates 2,000 students each year

2. 2
   verb

   receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies

   I graduated long before you were born.

3. 3
   noun

   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.

4. 4
   verb

   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.

5. 5
   verb

   To be certified as having earned a degree from; to graduate from (an institution).

   Trisha graduated college.

6. 6
   verb

   To certify (a student) as having earned a degree

   Indiana University graduated the student.

7. 7
   verb

   To change gradually.

   As the species graduate into each other, both in form and in habits, from the grass-eating Geese to the fish-eating Harelds, it is difficult, […] to divide this large group into sections.

8. 8
   verb

   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

Etymology

From Middle English graduat(e) (“(noun) a graduate of a university; (adjective) graduate, having graduated”, also used as the past participle of graduaten (“to graduate”)), borrowed from Medieval Latin graduātus (“graduated, graduate”), perfect passive participle of graduō (“to graduate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from gradus (“step”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). The noun is originally derived within Latin from the adjective via substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Sense 10 of the verb, relating to Japanese entertainment, is a semantic loan from Japanese 卒業 (sotsugyō)…