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

As undergraduates at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Lee Ray Sheng and Ye Anran joined forces in 2020 to launch Raydy Beehoon, a rice noodles business operated out of the campus canteen. —Cat Wang, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025

England’s University of Oxford shared that a former undergraduate recently returned three library books that were checked out two decades ago. —Brian Anthony Hernandez, People.com, 10 May 2025

Walsh has also met with Peter Bowman-Davis, an undergraduate on leave from Yale who currently serves as the acting chief AI officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss the FDA’s AI ambitions. —Zoë Schiffer, Wired News, 7 May 2025

And for all this some institutions have the gall to charge undergraduates upwards of $100,000 a year! —Adrian Wooldridge, Twin Cities, 6 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1630, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for undergraduate

• graduate
• postgraduate

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