undergraduate

noun

un·​der·​grad·​u·​ate ˌən-dər-ˈgra-jə-wət 

-ˌwāt;

-ˈgraj-wət

: a student at a college or university who has not received a first and especially a bachelor's degree

undergraduate adjective

Examples of undergraduate in a Sentence

a group of college undergraduates

Recent Examples on the Web

Our entry point is Sutskever, the low-EQ genius who barges into the office of Professor Geoffrey Hinton (Mark Rylance) as a 17-year-old undergraduate at the University of Toronto in the early aughts. — E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026

Following her father’s footsteps Like her father, Reyes-Becerra grew up in Sacramento and got her undergraduate degree at Stanford University before going on to law school — in her case, Columbia Law School in New York City. — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 30 Sep. 2026

The campus is expected to eventually support more than 3,500 undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students, and nearly 300 faculty. — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2026

Plans call for it to be built on more than 35 acres in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood and open in 2028 with 3,500 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students. — Susan Svrluga, Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1630, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for undergraduate

• postgraduate
• graduate

Kids Definition

undergraduate

noun

un·​der·​grad·​u·​ate ˌən-dər-ˈgraj-(ə-)wət 

-ə-ˌwāt

: a student at a college or university who has not yet received a degree