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grad student

grad student

40 2.8
A student who studies after college to get a master's or doctoral degree
  • noun
  • /ɡræd ˈstjuːdənt/
  • Informal
translation icon : estudiante de posgrado
  • As a grad student, she spends most of her time conducting research for her thesis.

Apparently he really berated A grad student who wrote an assembler.

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Examples

  • What advice would you offer a grad student who is barely breaking even and is trying to pay for a simple wedding?

  • I socialized some with my fellow grad students in French literature.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • This is like basically your entire time as a grad student is this.

  • One of my grad students.

  • "We should still try," she told one of her grad students.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Gene had given a talk at Columbia, and the grad students had taken him to dinner.

    Academic text (2014)
  • I always tell my grad students that everything's great.

  • So I'm working as a grad student in Professor Banjo's lab.

  • Grad student in comparative religion.

  • Here's a new study by Ashley King, a grad student at the University of Arizona.

    Blog text (5)

Synonyms

graduate student
vsgrad student
  • US
75 2.5

A student who studies for a master's or PhD after finishing a bachelor's degree

is broader, meaning any student studying beyond undergraduate level
postgraduate
vsgrad student
  • UK
3 4.0

A student doing further study after finishing a bachelor's degree at university

is narrower, focusing on master's or doctoral study typically

How Advanced

postdoctoral
  • Specialized
6 6.7
doctoral
  • Specialized
24 6.3
master
179 3.7
grad student
  • Informal
40 2.8
undergraduate
93 3.2

Surface Forms

grad student singular
grad students plural

Morphology

grad + student

The compound clearly combines 'grad' (short for 'graduate') and 'student', so a learner who knows both words will likely infer it relates to students at the graduate level. However, 'grad' can also be interpreted as 'someone who has graduated', which makes the exact role (a student in postgraduate study vs a former student) potentially confusing without exposure to academic register and context. Because the constituent meanings give a strong but not fully predictable cue, this is best classed as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Grad student is a short form of 'graduate student'. Think of someone who finished a first degree but stays at university to study more for a master's or PhD. The grad part shows they are beyond the first degree and the student part shows they are still studying, so the phrase means 'a student doing a master's or doctoral degree'.