as in essays
a long piece of writing about a particular subject that is done to earn an advanced degree at a university
He wrote his dissertation on an obscure 16th-century poet.
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Recent Examples of dissertations
People would devote entire dissertations to developing techniques for distinguishing handwritten digits or for recognizing faces in images; then a deep-learning algorithm would digest the underlying data, discover the subtleties of the problem, and make those projects seem obsolete.
—
James Somers, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
Candidates conduct original research, publish findings, and defend their dissertations in front of experts in their fields.
—Leadership Brainery, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
James Somers, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
Candidates conduct original research, publish findings, and defend their dissertations in front of experts in their fields.
—Leadership Brainery, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissertations
Noun
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There’s lore recaps and reviews, or essays about how disappointing the sequels were.—
Will Borger,
Rolling Stone,
31 Oct. 2025
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One of Johnson’s timeliest essays, though, is about Alien, Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror about an extraterrestrial creature that forcibly impregnates a member of a commercial hauling ship, killing him when the alien fetus bursts out of his abdomen.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Once again this year, fourth grade teachers around the county turned their classrooms into recording studios, and their students submitted outstanding stories, interviews and commentaries for NPR's Student Podcast Challenge.—
Jordan Owens,
NPR,
4 Oct. 2025
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Transcripts, grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, glyph studies, botanical studies, commentaries, articles, editions of codices, correspondence, maps, charts, drawings, photographs, Maya Society materials, genealogies of Maya families, and Mayan glyphs on moveable type.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The ancient Romans and Greeks never really wrote treatises about how to lie well.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Advertisement Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians.—
Time,
Time,
3 Nov. 2025
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Awards are presented for outstanding books, articles, liner notes and broadcast programs on the subject of music.—
Paul Grein,
Billboard,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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At the end of the semester, there’s a special evening event where all the seniors read from their theses, and this is my absolute favorite moment of the semester.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
22 Sep. 2025
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Liu emphasizes that the work provides students with opportunities to explore bold ideas, gain hands-on experience, and produce complete theses that prepare them for future scientific careers.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissertations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissertations. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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