Word of the Day

: June 16, 2014

matriculate

verb muh-TRIK-yuh-layt

What It Means

: to enroll as a member of a body and especially of a college or university

matriculate in Context

A spokesperson for the college said the school is expected to matriculate approximately 1,000 students for the fall semester.

"Work joined Symphony in the Valley at the tender age of nine and continued to perform with them before matriculating at Juilliard." - Beth Slater, Aspen Daily News, May 9, 2014

Did You Know?

Anybody who has had basic Latin knows that "alma mater," a fancy term for the school you attended, comes from a phrase that means "fostering mother." If "mater" is "mother," then "matriculate" probably has something to do with a school nurturing you just like good old mom, right? Not exactly. If you go back far enough, "matriculate" is distantly related to the Latin "mater," but its maternal associations were lost long ago. It is more closely related to Late Latin "matricula," which means "public roll or register," and it has more to do with being enrolled than being mothered.