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Glite Dictionary
🚫 Without a degree 🚫 Person without degree
nongraduate

nongraduate

5.1
Not having a college or university degree
  • adjective
  • /nɒnˈɡrædʒuət/
  • US
translation icon : no graduado
  • Many employers prefer to hire graduate candidates over nongraduate applicants.
  • nongraduate teachers
  • graduate and nongraduate

Examples

  • Remuneration for both graduate and nongraduate teachers has improved ("Teaching service," 1996, March 21), and the improved pay and the employment security derived from a teaching career are two extrinsic aspects that matter most to security-anchored educators.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The conference will feature presentations from both graduate and nongraduate researchers.

  • Dummy variable: 1 = graduate; 0 = nongraduate.

    Academic text (2013)

  • She felt at a disadvantage in the job market as a nongraduate compared to her peers with degrees.

Surface Forms

nongraduate positive

Morphology

nongraduate = graduate (transparent) = non + graduate

Formed with the productive negative prefix 'non-' plus the clear base 'graduate', so the meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

Nongraduate comes from non- meaning 'not' and graduate meaning 'someone who finished a degree', so as an adjective it describes something that is 'not a graduate' and is often used before a noun, for example 'nongraduate students'.