Meaning & use
grad
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A person who has finished a course of study and received a degree or diploma.
Grammar: Countable: a grad, two grads, the new grads.
Patterns
- a recent grad
- a grad of somewhere
The company hires recent grads every summer.
My cousin is a college grad and works in marketing.
The new grads threw their caps in the air.
nouncountableinformal
Short for graduation, the ceremony or event at which students receive their degrees.
Grammar: Often appears before another noun: grad party, grad night.
Patterns
- grad party
- grad ceremony
Her family threw a big grad party in the backyard.
The grad is on Saturday morning in the stadium.
We bought flowers for her grad.
adjectivebefore a nouninformal
Short for graduate, describing studies done after a first degree.
Grammar: Always before a noun: grad school, grad student.
Patterns
- grad school
- grad student
He applied to grad school in physics.
She works as a grad student in the library.
Grad courses require much more reading.
Word forms
| plural | grads |
|---|
Common combinations
- grad school
- She is applying to grad school next fall.
- grad student
- A grad student led the seminar.
- recent grad
- The firm hired a recent grad.
- high school grad
- He is a proud high school grad.
- grad party
- We went to a grad party on Sunday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- graduate
- Graduate is the full form and fits formal writing, whereas grad is casual.
- alumnus
- Alumnus focuses on being a former student of a particular school, not on finishing.
- degree holder
- Degree holder is formal and stresses having the qualification.
Opposites
Word family
- graduate noun
- someone who has completed a course
- graduate verb
- to complete a course of study
- graduation noun
- the act or ceremony of graduating
- undergrad noun
- a student working toward a first degree
Commonly confused: grad or grade?
grad vs grade
A grade is a mark or school level, whereas a grad is a person who has graduated.
Practice
A 'grad student' is someone who is ____.
Choose one answer.
Grad student is short for graduate student, someone studying after a first degree. The other options do not describe this role.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “grad”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.