noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The highest degree awarded by a university faculty.
2. 2
   one of the highest earned academic degrees conferred by a university wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To make (someone) into a doctor. archaic

   "He was bred […] in Oxford and there doctorated."

Synonyms

All synonyms

bachelorbachelor's degreedegreedoctordoctor's degreedoctor's degree

Example

More examples

"Entering the doctorate is going to be a great challenge."

Etymology

From Latin doctōrātus.

Related phrases

honorary doctorate

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.