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
-
Her current project is a collection of essays tracing her immigration to the United States.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Jan. 2026
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Buchloh’s best essays romp through the history of genres—the female nude, the family portrait, the history painting, the Romantic landscape—to show how Richter’s work mines the past for the future.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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This excerpt includes the book’s preface and the lyrics and commentaries for six songs.—
John Darnielle,
Rolling Stone,
11 Dec. 2025
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Raimondo wrote daily commentaries attacking the war, and Garris linked to stories from around the world.—
John Seiler,
Oc Register,
7 Dec. 2025
Noun
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The collection, now over 40,000 volumes, includes Greek and Arabic manuscripts, early cartographic works and rare scientific treatises gathered from across the Iberian world.—
Navya Verma,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 Jan. 2026
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Apart from its famous Devil portrait (more on that later), the codex contains an entire Bible, other historical texts, an encyclopedia, and medical treatises.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
25 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Wei was convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, espionage and unlawful export of and conspiracy to export technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.—
Summer Lin,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Jan. 2026
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As part of our 150th birthday, the Orlando Sentinel will reprint articles from our archives as part of our Monday Memories feature.—
Orlando Sentinel Staff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The discipline has built a vast array of empirical theses deep inside this single ideology—liberalism—and, in doing so, has naturalized it.—
Jason Blakely,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
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Kirk has two main theses in his book, and expresses each in a very different tone.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
22 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissertations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissertations. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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