postdoctoral

adjective

post·​doc·​tor·​al ˌpōs(t)-ˈdäk-t(ə-)rəl 

ˈpōst-ˌdäk-

variants or less commonly postdoctorate

ˌpōs(t)-ˈdäk-t(ə-)rət 

ˈpōst-ˌdäk-

: being beyond the doctoral level:

a

: of or relating to advanced academic or professional work beyond a doctor's degree

a postdoctoral fellowship

b

: engaged in such work

postdoctoral scholars

Examples of postdoctoral in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Now researchers have announced the discovery of helium leaking from LHS 1140 b into space, and that only makes the possibility that life could exist on the planet more likely, says Collin Cherubim, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 16 July 2026

After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Chung joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty in 2024. — Rachel Martin, Hartford Courant, 11 July 2026

Devesh Nandal is a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian. — Leonard David, Space.com, 11 July 2026

Harry Brown, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney’s Heat and Health Research Centre, expressed frustration over the universal breaks in an op-ed in the journal Nature. — Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for postdoctoral

• epidural
• predoctoral
• deferral
• referral
• neral
• squirrel