Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A farewell address in the form of a sermon delivered to a graduating class.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The university degree of bachelor.
  • noun A baccalaureate sermon (which see, below).
  • Pertaining to the university degree of bachelor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The degree of bachelor of arts (B.A. or A.B.), the first or lowest academical degree conferred by universities and colleges.
  • noun U.S. A baccalaureate sermon.
  • adjective Pertaining to a bachelor of arts.
  • adjective in some American colleges, a sermon delivered as a farewell discourse to a graduating class.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The first or lowest academical degree conferred by universities and colleges; a bachelor degree.
  • noun A high school completion exam and qualification awarded in many countries (e.g. Finland, France, Moldova, Romania), designed to enable students to go on to higher education.
  • noun US A farewell address in the form of a sermon delivered to a graduating class.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a farewell sermon to a graduating class at their commencement ceremonies
  • noun an academic degree conferred on someone who has successfully completed undergraduate studies

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin baccalaureātus, from baccalārius, bachelor (influenced by laureātus, crowned with laurel); see bachelor.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French baccalauréat, from Medieval Latin baccalaureatus, from baccalaureus, an alteration of baccalarius ("young man aspiring to knighthood"), to resemble bacca lauri ("laurel berry") (the ancient symbol of victory). Compare Bachelor.

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Examples

  • This international baccalaureate is tightly controlled by Geneva.

    International Understanding, a Working Model 1975

  • At the American Prospect blog, Dana Goldstein writes that "French teenagers are smarter than all of us" because certain French baccalaureate exams, taken by those who desire to attend college, include pretentious questions requiring the young respondents to feign familiarity with the work of various philosophes.

    Reason Magazine 2009

  • In the future what we now call the baccalaureate will not exist.

    INAUGURATION OF JAURCO SCHOOL 1968

  • And she gave short shrift to claims from delegates that the name ebacc - which is short for English baccalaureate - was confusing because a baccalaureate was the equivalent of A-levels in other European countries.

    The Guardian World News Andrew Sparrow 2011

  • He wants to introduce a kind of baccalaureate qualification for 16-year-old GCSE pupils who have completed a broad course of studies.

    British schools chief Michael Gove gets his sums wrong 2010

  • These low performers include zero-coupon bonds (you buy zeros at a fraction of their face value and watch their worth increase every year); "baccalaureate" bonds (tax-free zeros sold by many states); even Series EE savings bonds.

    How To Save For College 2008

  • Most of them arrive at age 16 or 17 and the college offers them an international curriculum, the international baccalaureate which is a program based in Geneva, Switzerland.

    Pearson College 1990

  • In a speech on Monday, Mr Gove outlined plans to create a "baccalaureate" award for pupils gaining A*-C passes in maths, English, a language, a science and a humanities subject.

    BBC News - Home 2010

  • The educational term originates from the [[Latin]] '' bacca laurus '', "decorated", whence more directly derives our adjective form '' baccalaureate ''.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • "baccalaureate" level, which is roughly equivalent to high school.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

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