What does "salutatorian" mean?

The person who graduates high school with the second-highest GPA and thus gets to give the salutatory address during the graduation ceremony.

What is a synonym for "salutatorian"?

Common synonyms include: salutatory speaker.

Pronounced //səˌljuː.təˈtɔːɹ.iː.ən//.

//səˌljuː.təˈtɔːɹ.iː.ən// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The person who graduates high school with the second-highest GPA and thus gets to give the salutatory address during the graduation ceremony. US
"At first, it seemed a joyous occasion. There was an audible gasp in the room, then boisterous cheering and applause when the announcement was made: Ikeria Washington and Layla Temple had been named 2021 valedictorian and salutatorian for West Point High School. […] Within days, and breaking with longstanding tradition, West Point High School decided to name two valedictorians and two salutatorians — with two white students, Emma Berry and Dominic Borgioli, joining the Black students who had already been named."
2
a graduating student with the second highest academic rank; may deliver the opening address at graduation exercises wordnet

"Tom was valedictorian and Mary was the salutatorian."

From salutatory + -ian.

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